The Divide
by FloodFeSTeR
Summary: "This is unstoppable, no holds barred. This is beautiful. Crazy. A beginning. Betrayal. Addictive. Aggressive. Alive. This is something to be afraid of." NEW SUMMARY...Daryl/OC/Merle, light romance it's more of a lust. Rating set to change.
1. Preface

_All of the rights to the plot of this story and the OC belong to the author operation (yes that is their name for those of you that question it). She has a story posted called Kimber like my Hills Have Eyes and when I found it I fell in love with the pieces she already had laid out. I hope you like the redo and review if you can so I know. And sorry if there are any errors. i typed this up on my phone andd it was super hard._

_**Preface**_

_"Investigators have found the remains of one Shelby Crooker, reported missing on October 23, 2O1O by her fiance Michael Erving. She was last seen in Alan's Convenience store on Hairiett Road. She was found in the same manner as Margot Anderson, brutally raped and mutilated by what appears to be some type of club. In a related matter, Lilly and Richard Mason have been reported missin-"_

He let the words drift in and out of his ears as he leaned his head back, taking a delicious inhale of his cigarette. "Think they'll eva find out what happen to those people?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The older male, slouched in on himself on their pathetic excuse for a couch, looked up at him through half lidded eyes, a sick grin on his aging face. "Nah," he crooned.

"An if they do?"

"Well then...guess we fucked."

He chuckled and sat up, reaching for the beer on an overturned, blood stained bucket at his feet. "Guess yer right," he muttered, knocking back a hard swallow.


	2. Meet Her

**Uknown**

She coughed and sputtered on the dried leaves flooding her mouth, pushing herself up to her feet only to fall down again and cringe into the blood stained dirt. She grit her teeth and looked over her shouulder through the matted curtain she called hair, seeing them swaying in the bushes, looking for her. She whimpered and scrambled to her knees, crawling as fast as possible to sandwich herself inside of a holloww log a few feet from her. She knocked her head back against the flaking wood and breath in the deep smell of rot, trying to calm herself. If she didn't, they would hear her and she would be done for.

"Come on girly, we just wanna play wit cha."

She shivered at the sound of his voice. It was disgusting, she wished she still had her pistol, but his partner had it and like hell he was gonna let her get it back after what she saw. What she had seen back there...they had called it fun.

"Think she went dis way," the younger almost crooned, as though he were tracking a healthy buck. But that was really all she was to them, game. She was the animal in their hunt.

"How th' fuck can ya lose 'er?" the older growled, shuffling behind the log she was crammed into.

She heard more shuffling, like they were fighting. "How thk hell can you lose 'er? Get off ma back old fucker."

The older laughed a hearty, warm laugh, like her uncle used to. "Calm ya ass down, I found 'er."

She screamed as she was yanked out of the log by her ankle. Her skull cracked against the ground before he hoisted her up and tossed her over his shoulder She hung there lifelessly as he squeezed her left cheek hard, making her gasp but make no move to fight back.

**OOOO**

She slumped back against the tree, feeling the controlled movement be enough to rattle her from the inside out. She cringed at the feel and reached into her waisteband, pulling out the silver flask filled with moonshine.

"Bottoms up," she whispered, lifting the aforementioned flask to the cerulean sky.

The fluid burned into her gut but it didn't faze her, she had grown used to the burn and it was almost welcome now. She sighed and looked up at the sky again, wiping at the trail of blood leaking from the left corner of her mouth. It had been going on for about three days and she didn't know if it was a bad sign or just the result of starvation. She knew what she looked like in her thin gray tank and sagging jeans. She looked like a skeleton in a sheet. But that wasn't her fault, she had been robbed pretty much. She had been lying under a brokeb down Ford Ranger, her shelter for the night so she could sleep safely, and had woken up to someone hollering and howling like a dog. they had taken her food, her water, hell they even took her clothes.

"Fuuuuck."

She jerked her head up, seeing the malformed man standing a few feet from her. He was tall and lanky, but his arms rippled on their own accord with hidden muscle. His har was gray and wild but he didnkt look old enough to have that color on him. She swallowed hard and started to stand, obviously easy prey to him, and he knew it. He watched her, running his thumb over his chapped bottom lip and eyed her with cold green eyes. He had done this before, he had scoped a woman before, but obviously not so bluntly. And every woman had fallen at his knees, begged for mercy while he did what he wanted.

But she would be the exception.

She reached down in a flash and slipped the knife from her boot, launching herself at him, screaming in anger as she plunged the knife home. He stumbled back, her clinging to him like a spider monkey as she assualted his chest. In a matter of seconds her whole fron was soaked in blood, her lips soaked in the metallic flavor as she licked them to soother the burn. Blood was bubbling its way through her own cracked lips. The man jerked and stumbled back, falling to the ground not so gracefully with her still on him, stabbing him as she gave one final, long scream. She stared for a moment, as the blood dripped past his shoulders and soaked into the grass beneath them. She panted as she straddled him. She had seen a woman do the exact same thing before, she had been spying when the woman sttacked her already dead husband, smashing his skull. She didnkt quite remember what was going on but she did vow to steer clear of that camp.

Her attack was different, it was so sudden, but she knew if she had given him another second of leniency he would have pounced on her and she wouldnkt have the strength to fight back.

She swallowed heavily and pushed herself up on shaky legs, wiping desperatly to rid the blood from her face, as though she would be tainted by merely having it on her. She stared down at his chest, which was now nothing more than much, and started to cry. She hit the ground with her knees, not even whimpering at the pain that shot up through the frazzled nerves, and wept into the ground. She had killed another human...another human that had breathed and lived, and maybe loved if given the chance.

She swallowed hard and pushed herself up, grabbing onto the handle of her knife tightly and swayed her way back to her pack. She grabbed it as she walked by, not caring that she was soaking the side in a stranger's blood. She needed to find somewhere, needed food. Her brain was blank now, traumatized by her own doing into silence. She couldn't think, couldn't do anything but walk.

**OOOO**

"The fuck is that?"

the older male looked up from his plastic bag of 'goodies', narrowing his eyes at where the younger was staring. "Don' know, maybe its anotha' walker."

"Nah man," the younger swayed his way around the older. "That a normal person."

The older snorted and pulled his arm away from the grasp on the woman lying on the ground. She groaned, eyes lifeless, but he just laughed and easily slid his large knife to the hilt into her forhead. "Then we wait.l

"Shouldn' we do somethin bout 'er," the younger jerked his chin towards the body on the ground.

The older jerked his knife out, wiping the blood away. "Nah, leave ker there."

"They're closer," the younger whispered, grabbing his weapon and making sure he could aim easily if they were a threat.

"Will ya calm down, jus' some girl."

He felt a trickled down his spine and rolled his back. "We gotta bring 'er back to camp."

The older looked back at the edge of camp staring them in the fucking eye. "Yeah I guess so, " he stood and shook his head. "damn."

_I know this chapter might csuck, I hope it doesnkt. I just had to post the next chapter since i already had it typed up._


	3. Meet Them

"Her bag says Minx," a kinky haired woman said from outside the open tent.

The strange girl was watching through a thin crack in her parted lids, watching in case they turned out to be people she had to get away from. The kinky haired woman had her bright, aged eyes darting everywhere, to every face around her and to the stranger laying on the smelly bedroll. A tall man stared down at her, his lips quirked and pursed together. He rubbed the back of his neck as he groaned and sort of threw himself back.

"We can't take in anymore people, Lori. We already have too many." He argued, holding his hands out to her, palm up.

She rolled her eyes. "The Dixons bring in plenty of food and it's not like there is a short supply of tents and space. Do you see her Shane? If we send her out there she'll die."

'Shane' sighed and looked towards girl and jumped, spooked by the fact that her eyes were large and latched onto him with an intensity he had never seen before. He swallowed hard, how could he tell her to leave now?

"Fine, she can stay, but she's your responsibility Lori, I'm not going to bite my tongue if she fucks up."

Lori glared and watched him look over at the girl before he turned his back and walked out of sight. Lori sighed and looked over at her, who had her eyes closed once again and was actually tryin to sleep again. She was so tired, she hadn't slept well in days and what she had done to that man…that had taken so much out of her. She heard the woman's shoes scrunching up the tent flooring and opened her eyes a little.

"So is your name Minx or is that even your bag?" she asked.

The girl just stared, didn't say anything. She didn't want to share anything with this stranger, silence had been a defense mechanism ever since she was a child and it still was. Lori sighed and sat in a small folding chair in the corner, watching her with intelligent, tired eyes.

"My name is Marcine." She whispered, her throat sore from screaming and misuse.

Lori cocked her head to the side. "That's a strange name, why does it say Minx on your bag?"

Marcine closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose. "It was the name of…a girl I knew. Found her in a department store, I killed her. She was already dead."

Lori nodded slowly, worry in her eyes. "Well we agreed to keep you set up until your healed. If you want to leave no one will stop you, of course you are welcome to stay."

Marcine nodded the best she could laying on her side. "Thank you, I haven't ran into many kind people since the shit hit the fan."

Lori smiled and stood. "Well we try our best, I mean the world just ended after all, no sense in being a horrible savage just yet."

Marcine chuckled at her words and pushed herself up into a sitting position while Lori started to dig through a bag of what looked like canned food. She tossed a can of peaches into the air and caught it before she twisted off the top and handed it to Marcine.

"Here, you need to eat something."

Marcine smiled and took the peaches and fork offered to her. "Thank you," she whispered, sliding the first slice into her mouth.

"No problem, want me to go tell your saviors that you're awake?"

Marcine noted the concern in the woman's voice and paused in her munching. "You don't seem to want to, but I would like to know who were talking 'bout that is making you so nervous."

Lori looked out of the tent, looking just as nervous as before and turned back to Marcine, crouching down. "I don't want to go near them, they're not exactly good people."

"And who said I was a good person? You're talking to me." Marcine pointed at her with her fork, sliding another strip of peach into her mouth. "Now come on, who we talkin' bout, what makes them so bad?"

Lori sighed and settled herself on the floor of the tent, knees pointing up. "The Dixons…there rednecks I guess. Not really social, not really nice when they are. I can't believe they saved you like they did."

Marcine snorted. "You make it sound like they're murderers."

Silence filled the tent and Marcine looked up to meet Lori's eyes. She was staring at the young woman with concern in her eyes, like she knew something but wasn't quite sure about it. Eventually Lori sighed and shrugged. "I guess you're right, it's just…the rest of the group thinks they've killed people with the way they act. Merle is sadistic and I know he's on drugs, heavy stuff. Daryl seems like the better half of them, at least he helps us without making rude comments."

Marcine snorted again and set her magically empty cans of peaches down. "Sounds like people I used to avoid."

The look in Lori's eyes said she felt the exact same way. Marcine figured she was a house wife, one that went to little league games or ballet classes and hoped their child would become some super star but didn't push them for the goal she wanted. She was like her mothers in every sense of the word 'model housewife'. Marcine didn't really like that, she had never really liked her own mother and she doubted after this her and Lori would fare much better.

"Yeah well I have to go finish the laundry, I just wanted to make sure Shane didn't pester you, he has a habit of being annoying."

Marcine chuckled and stood on shaky, twig like legs. She swayed a little but Lori caught her elbow before she could hit the floor of the ten. "Thanks," Marcine muttered, pulling her arm away from Lori.

She didn't mean to be rude, but Marcine wasn't big on human contact. She would revert back to herself when she got set up or well enough to leave. She didn't think she could stay here long, she didn't like how normal they were all trying to make this be, like it was just a big group camping trip to the lake. She looked around the campground, seeing tents scattered along in the tree line, saw two campfires surrounded by people eating what appeared to be meat, but Marcine didn't look to deep into that. Looking around some more she noticed two tents nestled too far from the camp to be counted as a part of the group. So that must be where the Dixons were, Merle and Daryl according to Lori. She looked over her shoulder, noting no eyes on her, and shimmied her way towards the tents.

When Marcine got closer she noted that only one of the tents was actually a tent, the other was merely a sheet strung on to sticks jutting from the ground. She bent at the waist a little, looking inside both tents and finding nothing but a bag of something in the actual tent. She jumped and screamed when she felt thick fingers wrap around her hip bones. She twists around, falling into the black dirt and looking towards the few men that were jumping up and starting towards her from their camps. She looks back up at the one that had grabbed her and whimpers, pushing herself back in the dirt.

He was leering down at her grossly, one hand running over his old gut and the other curling and uncurling from a fist at his side. He was wearing tan pants that had holes and had blood stains in a few areas; Marcine wondered if it were walker blood or human. He was old, that much was obvious from the lack of hair and the gray color, the wrinkles at the edges of his eyes and the slightly sagging skin fo his neck. This had to be Merle, it just had to be.

"Well well well, look who woke up while we was gone," he purred.

Marcine whimpered again. "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Back of Merle, moron." A gruff voice came from behind Merle.

The older man looked annoyed at the younger man assumed to be Daryl as he pushed past him, his sharp, icy eyes flashing over her before sending a glare to the men that were waiting, wanting to jump in but not really knowing what to do. He looked back down at Marcine, who was staring up at him with wide, fearful eyes. His hair was short and sandy blonde, matching the faint stubble on his chin she only noticed after his tongue slid out and ran over his bottom lip, drawing her attention.

"Get ya ass up and go on, don' feel like dealin' wit these jackasses right now." Daryl grunted at Marcine, nudging her leg out of the way so he could move into his tent.

A wide hand grabbed onto her elbow and jerked her to her feet. She looked up with wide eyes at Shane, who was leveling a menacing glare at Merle, but he only leered back, tongue sticking out slightly from the corner of his mouth. Marcine quivered when Shane started dragging her back to the other side of the camp, eyes still locked with Merle's as he grinned after her. She found her feet at some point and pulled herself out of Shane's grip, walking behind him for a moment before she collapsed halfway back to camp. She braced her hands flat against the ground, a few tears slipping out into the dirt as she shook, still in fear of the man behind her. If that's what you want to call him, he seemed more like the devil, and Daryl…she didn't know what to think about him so she didn't give him a second thought.

She saw two pairs of feet enter the edges of her vision and looked up into the warm, concerned eyes of a young blonde and the worn eyes of an aging, gray haired woman. They smiled a little at her and offered their hands, which she took gratefully and let them usher her to a log they had rolled up to one of the low burning fires. The men were huddled back where she had collapsed, only the women huddled around her, like they were football teams. Any other time Marcine would have chuckled at the thought, but right now she just wanted to curl up and hide.

"Why'd you go over there?" one of the two blondes asked, worry lines around her mouth and eyes.

"Andrea!" the young blonde that had helped her to the log scolded the older.

She looked offended. "What?! I was just wondering, jeez." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

The young blonde sighed and turned back to Marcine with a small smile. "Sorry about Andrea, she's rude. My names Amy."

"Carol," the gray haired woman muttered, fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

"My names Jackie," a pleasant black woman introduced herself, not shy one bit.

Marcine smiled gently. "My names Marcine."

"So what were you doing over there anyway?" Amy asked, leaning forward a little to poke at the fire in front of her.

Marcine tucked an extremely long strand of crimson behind her left ear. "I went to thank them, guess that was a bad idea."

"Well yeah, they're not people anyone needs around. The only reason Shane and the guys haven't forced them out is because we need their survival skills." Jackie said, scratching at her throat.

Marcine stared into the embers of the fire, bright eyes lost in her thoughts. She should have listened when Lori said they weren't good people, should have just let it be, but she couldn't help but be polite. It was just the right thing to do these days and Marcine needed to be on every ones good side if she was going to stay here for a minute, and she meant _every one_. Even those assholes. Now Marcine was terrified of this camp, just because of them. Those were dangerous men, the look in their eyes was enough confirmation to her fears.

"Well it doesn't matter to me, I'm leaving soon."

The women looked over at her with wide eyes. "Why?" Andrea asked.

Marcine shrugged, looking over her shoulder at the men and then the brothers that were starting their own fire at their camp. Daryl seemed to be scolding Merle, but he just laughed and waved him off, pulling something from a large plastic baggie at his feet. She sighed and turned back to the women. They were looking at her with concern in their eyes, but she didn't care about that.

"I just…I don't want to be a burden." She muttered, lying.

Amy and Jackie laughed. "Oh honey, trust me you won't be a bother. We have plenty of supplies and canned food, plenty of food. Your fine, stay, you need it."

Marcine looked down at herself, noting the way her clothes were sagging and sighed, wrapping her arms around herself.

**0000**

"Yer an idiot," Daryl muttered to his brother, placing a can of open beans in their tiny fire.

Merle laughed, striking his lighter and placing the end of his glass pipe between his lips and striking up the lighter. In ten seconds flat his pupils dilated to the point where there was none of that crisp green color left, only black. He swayed in his seat a little and shook his head, dropping the pipe back into the bag.

"She a fine piece a ass," Merle muttered, looking towards the other part of camp.

Daryl kept his head down, eyes flashing towards her, where she sat in the gaggle of women. She looked lost, like a child on their first day of school. She was nothing but a skeleton to him, she was nothing but a shadow right now. But he could see the potential coiled in her arms and legs. She was like a snake waiting to strike, she had a lot of pent up something's inside of her. Daryl snorted lowly to himself and nudged the can to the right with a burnt stick.

"Stay away from 'er Merle, don' need ya getting us kicked out o' here."

Merle looked back towards his little brother, hating how he was such like a whipped dog with this group. "Oh please lil brother, you know you would like to ave er over ere, bent back over the way she was."

Daryl sneered. "Listen, it doesn't matta. Stay away from 'er and when we get that shit done here we can see if she'll go with us."

"Ya mean-"

"Shut it," Daryl growled.

Merle smirked and laughed. "Whatever lil brother."


	4. Teach Me

_So I just saw that I got two reviews from a guest but they won't show up in my review section on my account. I only saw them when I went in my emails and it made me so happy, but I wish it would show them. And there's a review from a guest I can see on my profile but it's not in my email…this is stupid. Anyway, thank you Anissa for reviewing._

* * *

**Three weeks later…**

Daryl loved the silence of the morning.

There was never the sound of cars or helicopters or inane human banter at five in the morning, his normal waking time. He could just sit in front of a lit fire and smoke a cigarette, do fucking nothing until the group began to rise from sleep. He was doing the same thing right now, hunched in on his knees and staring at the beginning of embers at the bottom of the crimson and orange flames that crackled in front of him. He looked up abruptly when he heard some sort of flapping, seeing a hawk speeding across the quarry. He sighed and looked back to his fire, taking a puff from his cigarette and blowing the white smoke into the flames. It inhaled them faster than he could, changing the color for a moment to white.

Daryl looked up again when he heard movement coming from the other side of the camp grounds. She was coming from her tent, the pale curve of her back facing him as she looked around camp. She was a skinny little thing, but she had gained a tremendous amount of weight since she had became a part of the group. Most of her bones were still seen and her clothes still sit her too loosely for Daryl's liking, but his opinion didn't really matter to her. She looked towards the quarry, biting her chapped lip for a moment as she nodded to herself, pulling her flame red hair into a bun at the nape of her neck. Daryl knew even with a decent amount of weight on her she would still have those sharp ass cheek bones and a narrow chin. He watched her bend into her tent, leaving just that supple ass in view and licked his bottom lip, grunting to himself before he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his crossbow.

Yeah, Daryl was a dangerous man. She should watch herself, not that he would do anything to her but being so open about that right there…hell that would drive any man to his primal wants and needs.

**0000**

She sighed into the cool water of the quarry, bare back to the bank, and she dove down deep, opening her eyes when she felt something slide against her. She smiled at the small fish and kicked her way back to the surface. She took in a healthy mouthful of air and giggled a little, feeling sort of normal. Even for the apocalypse she had been in rough condition. But thanks to the women, and the rare exception of men around here, Glenn she was doing better. She could just _feel_ herself getting better, the image was just a bonus.

She stepped out of the water, shivering a little as she wrung out her hair and started to pull on a green summer dress. She had loved it when Amy brought it to her. It was tight around her chest and flared around her waist so it didn't show how skinny she was. Her arms were a problem, but they were quickly solving themselves and she was happy for that. She smoothed down the front of her dress and smiled, satisfied, and grabbed her old clothes before she started for camp again.

The women were up already, poking at fires to get them ready and yawning into their hands. They were mumbling amongst themselves and practically growled when Shane came from the tree line, opening his mouth as if to speak. When he heard the growling noise coming from the women he grumbled himself and turned back around, stomping through to his tent again. Marcine hesitated for a moment on the edge of camp, contemplating going over there, but too afraid. She was not a people person, never had been. She hated groups of people, they always put her under some short of pressure. She wished she could just go through the camp without being drawn into the women's going-ons but there was no way she could avoid that gravitational pull. This early in the morning, hell they were like one big black hole.

"Marcine, come join us. We got shitty coffee." Jackie smiled at the young woman, holding a cracked blue mug in the air.

Marcine smiled politely then shuffled over, sitting between Amy and her sister, Andrea. The older woman looked her up and down with approval, making Marcine want to almost growl at her. Andrea was not the nicest person, and Marcine wished she had the nerve to tear her apart right there or even in private. But Marcine was not that type of girl, she didn't really like confrontation. But that was something she needed now, she needed to be stronger, she needed to be able to defend herself better. She didn't even know how to shoot a gun and sometimes there wouldn't be a knife or a gun anywhere, but she didn't know how to use her hands as weapons either.

"So Marcine?"

She looked up, her face blank. "Huh?" damn she was so smart.

Lori chuckled and took a sip from her coffee, cringing at the taste. "We were talking about why Daryl Dixon is staring at you so hard."

Marcine swallowed hard, fear slipping up her spine as she looked over her shoulder. There he was, cleaning his crossbow. She could see his bright blue eyes staring at her, from this angle it looked like he was glaring at her. She shivered and turned back to the fire, hands folded tightly in her lap.

"I don't know…" she mumbled.

"Well," Amy leaned back to cross her legs and leaned forward on her knees. "Never seen him look at any of us like that."

A collective 'same here' echoed around the fire and everything got quiet. Marcine looked up when she heard shuffling and saw Morales and his family heading for the quarry. They looked so happy, like the world hadn't touched them, and Marcine felt her stomach churn. T-Dog reached over, appearing as if he came through thin air, and grabbed the cup of coffee in Jackie's hand. She glared at him and reached into a large back pack beside the log she was sitting on, pulling out another mug and pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"That boy is gonna be the death o' me I swear." She mumbled, sipping on her own black brew.

"I was thinking of going over and asking him to train me," Marcine mumbled, picking at her nails.

Jackie, Carol and Lori went completely silent while Amy made a choking sound and Andrea jumped up. "The fuck?" Andrea spat.

Marcine shrugged. "I just…do any of the other men know how to take care of themselves like he does?"

Looking around at the doubtful and fear filled faces gave her the answer she was looking for. Lori cleared her throat and set her mug in the sand, leaving it prone to the few ants Marcine saw there. "Honey I just…I don't think any of us think that's a good idea."

"Why? Because they seem like bad people? You guys don't know if their bad people or not, they just might be misunderstood."

"Honey this is not high school, those are _not_ some little punks," Jackie scolded, her face deadly serious. "Those are fully grown men and they have made their mark with us."

Marcine leaned forward a little. "And what mark would that be? Not talking to you guys? Not wanting to be super cheery? Is their acting like the world went to shit, which it did, bothering you?"

Andrea twisted around to crouch in front of Marcine, taking her hands into hers. "Marcine…the day they brought you in, two hours before they actually brought you in…they went down the road to watch out for any other travelers that happened by."

Marcine pulled her hands away. "So what?"

"Marcine we heard a woman scream."

Her blood ran cold. "What?" she whispered.

"We heard a woman scream, once and far away, we're not sure if it had anything to do with him." Lori defended, obviously thinking logically.

"You know it was them," Andrea whispered, looking over her shoulder then back to Marcine. "Marcine, they are…they are just not good people ok? Please think more about this decision before you go out there, asking them to take you out into the woods to teach you anything."

"We need someone to go on a run into the city," Shane stated, walking practically into the fire.

Andrea sighed and stood straight. "Well I'm willing to go."

Lori stood, clasping her hands together in front of her. "Shane, I don't think that would be ok right now."

He sighed. "And why wouldn't it be?" he mocked, well sort of.

Marcine stood and wandered her way back to her tent, falling onto her bedroll with a heavy sigh. It was starting to heat up in the tent, the air thick with humidity. She rolled onto her back, arm spread at her sides. She was so hungry right now, but there was no way she was going over to Shane and asking for a dip into the food supply. They were running low on canned and bagged food, they were almost solely relying on the food the Dixons had been bringing in. Marcine never realized how good squirrel was, of course she never thought you could eat it. She had only heard of eating rabbit, never those rodents you say eating something in the park.

She wanted to be able to do that for herself, wanted to be able to fight her way out of something she couldn't handle in her state now, wanted to be able to get her own food, wanted to be able to handle a gun or a knife. Daryl and his brother could help her, if they wanted to. She was scared of them…but she didn't want to die. She wanted to live, even if the world was pure hell right now she wanted to be able to live as full of a life as possible, even if she wouldn't live to see the age of 30.

She rolled onto her side, staring across to a large trash bag full of clothes. She wanted to trade in her girly attire, she wanted to become…a survivor she guessed.

She shot up, back straight as she stared out towards the Dixon camp, which she was facing. Daryl was still hunched over his crossbow but Merle had come from his tent. Marcine could see the bag in his hand, saw him pull out something small and knock it back, taking a sip from a half full whiskey bottle. Marcine licked her lips, pushing herself forward. She had to do this, when her adrenaline was pumping on full heat. She passed T-Dog and Glenn, who eyed her cautiously, past the gaggle of women who she heard gasp. Why would they gasp? It was so cliché.

When she stopped beside Daryl he simply froze, but Merle leered at her grossly. She didn't feel that familiar shiver of disgust or fear trickle down her spine, she felt nothing. Daryl looked up when she said nothing, eyes slightly narrowed and calculating.

"What?" he asked in his gruff voice.

She swallowed hard. "Teach me what you know." she said, barely above a whisper.

He scoffed. "Hell nah, you couldn't handle it."

"Yes I can! I can handle anything you would throw at me, I need to learn and them over there…they believe you can do it so please…"

He stared up at her. "Hell. No."

"Aw c'mon lil brother," Marcine felt an arm drape over her shoulders. "Let's go teach the lil miss how to handle 'erself."

"Merle," Daryl said in a warning tone.

Marcine cleared her throat. "Now dammit, you need to show me how to handle myself. Please, I don't care what it is. Teach me, I…I need to know how to do this. I can't live in this world and I don't want to die." Her voice was dying.

He stared at her, ice blue eyes flickering between her face and his brothers. It was like he and his brother were having a quick conversation, a very intense one at that. Marcine could practically see the tension rippling through the air and it made her regret what she was asking for. What was she thinking, coming over here and practically _demanding_ that he teach her anything he knew about surviving.

"Fuck," he sighed, standing and rubbing the back of his neck, looking her up and down with his crossbow dangling from his fingers. "We start tomorra."

* * *

_I hope it's good, I put a lot of work into this. It's like 4:33 here and I am wide fucking awake so I might start working on the next chapter right now. I'm inspired right now, like immensely. I might post two chapters next time, I have one whole chapter written out in my head and the next is forming. Wish me luck!_


	5. Sick Thrill

_Anissa I got a little angry at one of your reviews, but then I was like why the hell should I get mad about that? I really appreciate your criticism, it wouldn't be a story without some of it. I wanted to know if you've read the original version of this story. Look up the author operation and go to Kimber, it's the original version. If you haven't read it you need to._

* * *

Marcine had never been good with being alone.

She didn't like to be alone, it reminded her too much of her childhood, and she never wanted to relive _that_ part of her childhood again. She never really wanted to relive most of her childhood. Marcine sighed and pushed herself up and out of the tent. The fires were still crackling, the one to her left still retaining its flame while the one to her right was nothing more than glowing embers. She rubbed her arms and walked around the log in front of her, plunking down on the wet wood; she could feel some of the dew seeping in through her jeans but didn't move. She didn't mind the feel, but it was cold and making her shake.

"Th' hell ya doin up so late?"

She looked up, startled and heart hammering in her chest. Daryl Dixon was standing above her, his scruffy face formed into an almost permanent sneer, crossbow slung over his shoulder. She swallowed hard and looked down, picking at her thumb nail.

"Well I uh…I couldn't sleep." Was all she could manage, which was the truth. She gained a bit of a back bone and looked back up to him. "What are _you_ doing up so late?"

He grunted and slung himself around the leg, falling down beside her. "Neva sleep." He mumbled, leaning his crossbow against the log between them.

She caught his eyes in the faint glow of the dying fire, saw those icy blue orbs roam over her, taking her in dangerously. It made her shiver, made him grunt but he didn't know why she was shivering. Or did he? He actually looked like the kind of person that the girls had described to her yesterday. He looked like a predator, hunched in on himself and examining her. He was very blunt about it, facing her fully and just locking eyes with her enough to make her not shy away. She was sure he would never let her do that, would never let her get away if she tried to run.

"Where's your brother?" she asked, wanting to distract him.

It did the trick and he grunted in disgust, looking back to the fire. "Don' know, don' care."

"But he's your brother," she cocked her head to the right, noting the thick curl of crimson slip past her face.

His head snapped to her, eyes livid and almost glowing, like a jungle cat. "Don' stick ya nose in ma business."

She felt her temper flare. "Then why the hell did ya come over here if ya were gonna be a jackass?" she growled.

He stared at her for a long moment, glaring dangerously at her. She felt like a moron, she really really did. She had never acted like that, had rarely cussed because it seemed so…un-lady like. It was not something she would have done anywhere else, defiantly not around her family or friends. He just…he made her so angry. How the hell could he expect to just come over here and be the way he was without expecting to get a rise out of her? Was that his plan, test her?

He chuckled, it was dark and it scared her a little. But when did he not scare her a little or a lot? Just being near him sent those chills up her spine. "Feisty lil one ain't cha?" he stood, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. "Guess ya ain' the princess Merle says ya was."

He started to walk away but she jumped up, stomping through the fire, successfully burning her ankle but she didn't care. She grabbed a hold of his upper arm, squeezing hard enough for her nails to break skin. She could feel the tan flesh give way, felt the blood leak under her nails but he didn't seem fazed by it and neither did she. Marcine noticed the small devil beside her hand, wandering why she hadn't noticed it before. it's wings were spread and its mouth was open, almost like it was grinning at her in a way. She jerked her hand away, cradling it in her other hand as he slowly looked back at her, one eyebrow raised. She hadn't meant to do that, but he couldn't just walk away like that.

"th' fuck ya want now?"

She swallowed hard and looked up to meet his eyes, trying to fight the fear clogging her throat. She felt like she was choking, but knew she was fine. "I...did you mean it when you said you would help me?"

He nodded. "Merle and I, we help ya tomorra."

She smiled slightly. "Thank you Daryl." She whispered.

He growled and turned on his heel, stalking back towards his tent.

**0000**

What the fuck was wrong with him? Why the fuck did he agree to help that bitch? He didn't care if he died, didn't care if she was eatin alive, tortured until she died. He grumbled and jerked his knife through the squirrels abdomen rather roughly, letting entrails squish against the toes of his boots. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw her sitting between the two blondes, not smiling, just staring and nodding occasionally while the two women just laughed around her. She didn't want to be over there, but she had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. She wanted to leave, but she didn't want to die.

That was her thing, she didn't want to die. Most of the time Daryl thought about death, what a sweet pleasure it would be to just not have to deal with this world anymore. He had never really wanted to be here in the first place, Ma always said he was a mistake, called him the bastard child. He always hated her, his Pa as well. His Ma was an angel compared to that sorry bastard. She was a God send, at least when she was around he wouldn't come for young Daryl.

For the first time ever Daryl Dixon felt a strip of fear lick up his spine, dig it's nasty claws in and secure itself with latches. Daryl didn't get scared, he never got jumpy or stupid, he prided himself on being stoic and calm, collected ya know? Lately he had been getting this way, for about a week or two now, he hadn't been the same. Merle hadn't changed, still got fucked up when he could, still passed out in the sand when he wanted to, but he was having to slow down on his supplies thanks to this whole apocalypse thing. He was starting to suffer withdrawal every once in awhile. Suffer was the correct term to, and it was something Daryl thought he deserved and laughed at. His brother was full of shit and Daryl was always mad at him, but truth be told he worried about him. But that was a rare thing and he wasn't concerned right now, even though his brother was dangerously close to falling face first into the fire he had just made.

"Merle!" he snapped, kicking up dust at him.

Merle grumbled, sitting back up straight with his eyes closed. "Whas wrong wit cha lil brotha?" he mumbled, reaching up to scratch his belly.

Daryl grabbed a firm hold of the squirrels fur and jerked down, leaving it to hang looking like a new born, hairless and wet with blood. "Ya bought ta fall into my fire, gonna put it out." he grumbled, using his knife to cut the squirrel down, the fur draped over the edge of their log.

Merle snorted. "Where that fine bitch?"

Daryl went silent for a moment before he cleared his throat and started to cut the squirrel into eatable pieces. "She jus' got up, should be over hea soon enough."

Merle smiled a sick smile, the one he always has on really, and swayed back for a moment. "I got a few thangs I can teach 'er."

"Ain't letting ya near her Merle," Daryl growled. "Don' need the whole camp comin down on us. I ain't got the patience to deal with them."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Merle waved a hand and swayed himself to his feet, groaning as he leaned back slightly.

He swayed back too far and stumbled a little, catching himself before he hit the dirt. He chuckled to himself and stumbled into his tent. Daryl rolled his eyes when he heard his brother hit the ground and strung up one squirrel on a stick, securing it in the ground before he folded one leg beneath himself and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. He packed them with the palm of his hand, looking back to where she was walking towards her tent. She stopped for a moment, looking over at him. When she found his eyes on her she jumped and hurried into her tent, making Daryl snicker as her took a cigarette from the pack. He cupped his hand over the flame from his lighter and inhaled deeply, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke into the bright blue sky. There wasn't a ducking cloud in the sky, nothing but the hot fucking sun.

He didn't want to go out there with this girl. He didn't want to do shit with her besides bend her over and dominate her, like a fucking dog. That was all she was fucking good for, that was what all women were good for. She needed to be fucked, grabbin his arm like that. He raised his arm closer to himself, seeing the crimson half moons in the black and brown grime. He shook his head and lowered his arm, taking a quick drag from his cigarette. He sighed out the smoke, scratching the back of his head. Strangely enough he felt like he needed a shower. He probably should get one, didn't need all these fucking cuts on him getting infected. He didn't want to die from that shit, he wanted to die by a shot in the head, at his own hands. He justified it as his life, he was the only one that should be able to take his life. No walker or another human would be the one to do that.

**0000**

She hesitated on the edge of camp, wondering whether or not this was a good idea. She lifted a hand up, worrying her thumb nail between her teeth. She could hear the murmurs behind her, the curiosity flowing around camp. It was like she was walking into an inferno. The moment she had gotten up this morning the women were bitching at her, begging her to _not_ go into the woods with them, that she would regret it. But of course she chooses to go, but she is scared. Not because of what the women had said, no she was afraid she would never be able to learn how to help herself and that this would be a big waste of time.

"Why are you going over there Marcine?"

She looked over her shoulder at Glenn, who was staring at her with concerned eyes. She sighed and tucked a strand of free hair behind her ear. "Because I need help Glenn. I need to be tough for this world and this is the only way."

"No it isn't Marcine, and you don't need to be tough, you can be just the way you are. No one is judging you."

Her temper flared again. "Glenn I don't care what you guys think of me, I'm sorry but I don't. I care about what I think, what I know. I know I'm not tough enough to survive here. I'll in this world and I don't fucking want to."

"So you want to be like them?" he growled out.

Marcine was a little surprised at his tone but shrugged it off. "If…" she looked down, wrapping her arms around herself. "If that's what it takes then yes."

Glenn took a step back. "It's a mistake Marcine, I just know it is."

"And if you go over there, don't come back."

Marcine looked over at Shane. He had his hands on his hips and as staring at her with a glare she wanted to shy away from. She knew there would be no point though, so she just stared back at him. A few of the group members stared from their spots around the camp, concern and disdain in some of their eyes.

"You have to be joking," she whispered.

Shane shook his head, no concern or regret in his eyes, no sympathy. "No, I'm not. Those people over there," he pointed over her head. "They are not people I want anyone in my group to associate with. I know what they've done and I don't even think they should be alive let alone supplying our food."

"But that's the thing they are _supplying_ you with food and you're so willing to say their worth more dead than alive."

Shane waved a hand at her. "I simply do not care, they can cut us off whenever they want to but they don't. I don't trust them, and I don't trust anyone that goes near them willingly. If you want them to help you so much, go over there and don't. come. back."

Marcine stared in disbelief at Shane. _His_ group? And no one was offended by the way he was just throwing her out, no one was offended by the way he technically said that he _owned _them? She just could not believe her ears. She looked over at the Dixon camp, seeing Daryl griping at the open flap to Merle's tent, waving his arms around everywhere. Was it really worth it? Was it worth learning how to take care of herself worth leaving the side of the group that she actually wanted to live with? She looked back down at her feet then sighed, looking up with a tired look in her sharp face.

"Can I at least get the tent?"

"No, I'm sorry but we need it. If you want to go over there, you share a tent with one of those filths." Shane quipped and turned around, stomping back towards _his camp_ like a pissed puppy.

Glenn looked up at her with sad eyes. "Marcine…"

She shook her head. "No Glenn, I'm doing this and no one is going to stop me. It's what I want to do, now let me fucking do it."

He stared at her for a moment. "Marcine this isn't you."

"The thing is Glenn, you don't know who I am. So ya know what, act like we're strangers and leave me alone all right?"

Glenn stared hard at her for a moment then sighed, nodding. "I'm sorry Marcine, I really am."

"And so am I Glenn," she turned around then, walking towards the Dixon camp.

She hated doing that. She doubted either one of the Dixons would let her stay anywhere near their camp, let alone share a tent with them. She was immediately red regretting her decision, but she doubted that she would be allowed back into that side of the camp now.

"Ya fuckin moron, wha' if sh-" Daryl stopped abruptly when he noticed her a few feet beside him.

His glare he leveled at her was icy, but she didn't shy away. She had to be tough, and dealing with him would be a good start. "I'm uh…I'm ready when you are."

He grunted and looked back towards the open tent flap. "I ain't done witcha."

Merle peeked his head out of the tent, grinning at Marcine, a grin she only smiled at softly. "Well hey there girly!"

"Hi Merle," she mumbled.

He still scared the bejeezus out of her, the first day she had met him was terrifying and she wished it wouldn't have happened but honestly…she hated to admit it but it gave her a sick thrill. She had never felt something like that before, had never had a man treat her that way. Now she understood that whole 'bad boy' thing her friends talked about. She always thought they were stupid or it was nothing but stupid teenage bull

"Well what we waiting fer, let's go." He pushed out of the tent, standing fully and looming over her by a head and a half.

She swallowed heavily and let them both walk past her before she followed, wary about her decision once again.

**0000**

"You did what?!" Lori seethed, chest to chest with Shane.

He swallowed, truthfully scared for his life right now, and took a small step back. But of course she followed that step and was against him again. "Lori, I don't want them-"

"Shane what if they do hurt her huh? What if they rape her, torture her? What if they fucking kill her?" she growled.

Shane did consider that, he honestly did, before he even thought about saying anything to her. "Lori I think if she wants to go over there willingly then she needs to stay over there."

Lori still glared at him, but he could see her dying down. She had reservations about that woman ever since she spoke to her. She thought she was crazy, bitch was coated in blood and it sure as hell didn't look like walker blood. It looked fresh and it was everywhere, even soaked through her pack. Shane didn't trust the woman, didn't want her anywhere near his people and a few of the other men were on the same page as him. T-Dog, Morales hell even that old fucker Dale was on the same page, said he didn't want her near the children. She needed to be with them, those filth that were trying to keep a low profile with them and keep them pretty much paid off with fresh meat.

"Shane if she gets hurt…" Lori sighed, losing her steam. "I swear you are going to regret it."

He watched her leave, sighing and shaking his head. "Yeah…whatever."

* * *

_Sorry if this seems a little rushed, a few parts were because my computer freaked out on me and kept cutting out some of my paragraphs so I had to make something out of the pieces I had still in my memory._


	6. The Fuck

_Aw no Anissa! I love your reviews, like I said I need criticism, it helps me improve if I make a mistake because sometimes I make them. criticism is a must! Continue with your reviews hun, I really appreciate them._

* * *

It was hard to ignore the feelings churning in her gut as his chest pressed against her back. She was trembling slightly, but listening to his deep, rhythmic breathing against her helped her calm down. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, breathing out slowly through her mouth.

"Good, breathe in deeply. You has to be calm for this," he breathed against her throat.

She smelt musk and old hints of mint and it made her shiver all over. "I'm trying," she whispered.

"Try harder," he growled, making her throat vibrate.

She swallowed hard and opened her eyes, releasing the arrow. It whistled through the air and struck the target dead on. She stared at the arrow, stunned for a moment with her bow dangling from her fingertips by the string. A grin broke out on her face, one made entirely of teeth, and she whipped around to Daryl, tackling him to the ground with her arms wrapped around his throat.

"I did it! I actually fucking did it!"

Thick fingers hooked into the hem of her shorts and lifted her up, leaving her dangling comically in the air above Daryl. He grumbled and wiggled out from beneath where she was dangling, jumping to his feet and stalking towards the thick oak tree twenty feet from them. He jerked the feather fletched arrow from the white circle drawn with some sort of cream Merle had produced. She squirmed in Merle's gasp, kicking her feet and waving her hands, bow clenched tightly in her left hand still.

"Merle let me go!" she whined, giving up and just dangling there.

He laughed a maniacal laugh and dropped her onto the forest floor. Marcine hit the ground with her face first, giving an oomph. She just lay there, groaning a little before a boot dug into her left side and rolled her over. She opened her eyes and saw Daryl staring down at her, emotions faint on his face. He held out a hand to her, obviously giving up on shielding her away from him. She took it with a smile and let him jerk her to her feet.

"Good fer ya first shot," he mumbled gruffly.

She smiled a little wider then squeaked when he grabbed a hold of her elbow and spun her around to face away from him. She stood there, stiff as a board as she felt one of his large hands to cup her right hip and the other start to mess with her back belt loop.

"D-Daryl what are you doing?" she whispered.

"Hookin this holder up."

She relaxed instantly, closing her eyes and sighing. "Sorry." She whispered.

"Why ya sorry girly?"

Marcine looked over at Merle, her gums salivating when she saw the half empty, glass flask in his hand. He noticed her dilemma and held it out, smirking at her when she snatched it away. The alcohol burned it's way down her throat, waking her up and making her buzz. She passed it back to him with a content smile.

"Like it much?" Merle asked, tipping the flask back once again before he capped it and slid it back into his left front pocket.

Marcine shrugged, taking a step away from Daryl when he was finished. "I've only drank whiskey once and that was at my aunt's wedding."

"Whiskey at a weddin?" Daryl muttered, walking around her as he loaded a shining pistol.

Marcine chuckled. "Yeah, Carrie was a big alcoholic, can't believe Jerry loved her like he did."

"Ya share too much in on sentence kid," Merle pointed out.

Her cheeks flushed red and she looked down, clenching her bow tightly in her small hand. "Sorry…"

"Did I spank ya kid?" Merle chuckled. "Can if ya want me to."

Marcine chuckled. "I haven't talked to anyone over at the camp since I got here, not much anyway."

"Don' know why anyone would wanna talk to em. Assholes," Merle cackled.

"Exactly what I was saying," Marcine snickered with him a little.

She felt something in her chest when Merle talked, when he acted the way he did. She knew what he was on, knew it did these things to you but she didn't care she wanted to feel that way. Maybe she could talk to him about it later. She wanted to feel nothing, she wanted to be happy all of the time, no matter what. Nothing but alcohol and drugs could give her that feeling and she had never done any drugs before the apocalypse but she was always up for anything.

"Alright, both a ya shut the fuck up, Marcine c'mere."

Marcine looked over at Daryl where he was fiddling with the trigger of his pistol. "You said my name."

He froze, and so did Merle, silence filling the air. He said her name, he actually fucking said her full name. She didn't think he knew it, and it made her feel weird when he said it. She reached up and held a hand over her heart, squeezing the fabric tightly. When his eyes met hers she wanted to just curl up and hide somewhere, far away from him because for some reason she wanted to just start giggling for reasons unknown.

"So wha?" he mumbled. "C'mere already, gon' teach y-"

"Let me handle this lil brother." Merle cut in, looking smug about something as he scratched his beer gut. "I was trained fer it after all."

Daryl rolled his eyes and passed the gun to his brother. "Smug som' bitch," he muttered, walking past Marcine.

Merle smirked over at Marcine. "Now come over here sugartits."

She chuckled. "Alright Merle."

**0000**

Lori paced back and forth around the fire, wringing her hands in front of her as she looked up to the path Marcine and the Dixons had wandered through over three and a half hours ago. She paused for a minute and ran a hand through her hair, jerking her long fingers through a few knots she got caught on.

"Lori, calm down 'm sure their fine. Worrying about them will do ya no good," Dale tried to coax her back to the fire.

She shook her head. "I can't just ignore this Dale," she waved both hands behind her as she looked at him in desperation. "You know what their like, I don't trust them."

Dale smiled softly, calming Lori slightly. "Come sit Lori, I trust the boys. They can't be all that bad if they're feeding us remember that."

Lori looked back at the path then sighed, falling onto one of the logs. She pressed both of her elbows into her knees and held her head in her hands. She didn't expect to like the girl so much, she was probably the only one that liked her at all. Shane just didn't understand, no one did, how she cared for the girl. Marcine was a young woman, very young, she didn't know right from wrong properly yet. All of that blood…in her state it had to be self defense not senseless murder. Everyone else was so quick to pass judgment on her before they even got to know her. Marcine was funny, witty and very, very intelligent for her age. But she was only book smart, not street smart, like you needed to be when dealing with those Dixons. Lori cannot _believe_ Shane just threw her to the wolves by forcing her out of camp. Lori had to at least try to make both of them see reason. She didn't want to lose the poor girl, she didn't want to see her swallowed up by them.

"Hey mom," Lori heard from her left.

She looked up and saw her son, Carl, and Carol's daughter Sophia standing a few feet behind him with Morales' children, Eliza and Louise. "What honey?" she asked, smiling softly so as to keep him from asking questions.

"Can we go down to the quarry? T-Dog and Glenn said they'd watch us."

Lori looked around camp, seeing the aforementioned men standing near the road down to the quarry. They noticed her eyes and waved a little, talking about something very intensely. Lori sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I guess so honey, just don't go too far alright?"

The children's faces lit up. "Thanks mom," Carl practically cheered before he and the other children ran off toward the road to the quarry.

"I wish I could be a kid again, seems like fun." Jackie muttered, crossing her legs and leaning towards the fire to scoot a can of opened beans from the fire with a stick.

"Same here, don't miss school though." Andrea sighed, rubbing her forehead as Lori had.

"Adults go to school," Amy pointed out, a little smug for some reason.

Lori sighed and stood again. "I think…I think I'm gonna go rest. Can someone come get me when they get in?"

Dale and Jackie nodded, their eyes full of unspoken concern, but Lori didn't want their concern. No one cared about that girl but her.

**0000**

"I can't believe I did that," Marcine groaned, holding her nose.

Blood dripped in heavy amounts down onto her boots, making her stomach turn. Daryl rolled his eyes and crouched in front of her, handing her a thick piece of gauze. "Maybe ya should've listened when 'e said tighten up."

"I figured that would make it worse for some reason." She grumbled, covering her nose with the gauze.

Merle snickered from his place behind her. "Dumbass."

"Shut the hell up," she growled.

"Both a ya shut up," Daryl quipped, standing fully with a curve in his back. "Gotta get back ta camp."

Marcine felt her stomach drop but said nothing as they started back the way they came. They had gone far out into the woods, and that had irked Marcine at first but then she realized it was for safety. Don't think anyone would be too happy if they ended up shooting someone, especially one of the children. Marcine stared at both brothers backs as they stalked in front of her, Merle mumbling to himself as Daryl kept his keen eyes on the area around them. What was she going to say when they asked why she wouldn't leave?

"So girly, what's yer sleepin arrangements?" Merle asked.

Psychic motherfucker. "How did you know?"

He smirked over his shoulder, eyes roaming over her briefly. "Can't help but notice when ya had a whole gaggle of men swarmin ya earlier. What happen?"

She sighed. "They said if I came over to yall's side of camp I couldn't come back to their side."

"Shoulda stayed over there," Daryl mumbled, adjusted his crossbow on his shoulder.

"What?" Marcine asked.

"Ya stupid fer comin over, shoulda stayed over there with them."

"I need to learn how to handle myself, Daryl. And you seemed like the only two people that have figured out that the world has went to hell. I hate how they act like it's one big camping trip over there, it drives me fucking crazy."

It was the truth, she hated how they were trying to make everything normal. She didn't care if it was because of the kids or what, they all needed to get with the fucking picture or something bad would happen and they wouldn't know how to handle themselves and then it wouldn't matter anymore.

"Oh just ignore Darylina, he's just a kill joy. Ya can bunk with me girly." Merle grinned.

Marcine swallowed hard, staring at Daryl's back, wishing he would speak up but when he said nothing she sighed inwardly. "Sure Merle, that would work."

"No, ya stayin with me." Daryl muttered gruffly, glaring at Merle.

Marcine smiled faintly. It wasn't that she didn't trust Merle, it was just…she didn't know what it was. She honestly didn't want to know what it was. It scared her a little bit, but then again what didn't these days? She could feel herself though, she could feel herself already getting stronger. She had never realized how much simple training like that could boost her ego so far.

"Ooh, possessive are we?" Merle coos.

Daryl growls. "Don' fuck with me today Merle."

Merle laughed. "Someone needs to get laid," he looked back at Marcine. "Wanna help with that girly?"

Her cheeks flushed deep crimson. "Wh-What?"

"Ignore em," Daryl hissed, grabbing onto his brother's arm and managing to push him forward. "get yer ass on."

Merle laughed, catching himself with a jog and slowed back down to be at his brothers side. "I was jus fuckin with 'er, she knows that. Don't cha?"

Marcine looked between the two of them before she ducked her head. Yes, she had to sleep in Daryl's tent. She just couldn't handle Merle, didn't think anyone could.

**0000**

He could see her face thanks to the dim light filtering through the tent, thanks to the fire Merle was keeping going. She lay with her back to him, head resting on a bunched up sheet he found in a bag of his. He noticed how flared, wide, her hips were now that she was laying there, that supple ass facing him. He licked his bottom lip and slid towards her, cringing at the sound the fabric of his pants and the tent bottom made together. He swallowed hard and reached down, running his calloused fingers along the hem of her shorts, just across her back, sitting up enough to see her face. She was calm, unaware of what was going on.

He smirked, he had always been good at this.

He scooted closer, grinding his groin softly against the curve of her ass and groaning low in his throat, trailing his fingers up and into her shirt. She breathed in deeply, making Daryl freeze in place, eyes wide on her face. She whined softly in her throat and breathed out, relaxing against him again. He sat there a moment longer, knuckles brushing against the underside of her breast. He growled and rolled away from her to his bedroll, flopping on his bed and holding his face.

"The fuck…"

* * *

_Soooo it's 2:20 a.m. here and I just had to spit this out, after typing this I realized the chapter before it was a pain in the ass to write, this one came very easily._


	7. First Time

_ Aw thank you Anisa! anyway, I have a question: are their any other authors that have a problem with reviews showing up in their emails but not on their stories?_

Lori watched the Dixon side of camp, slowly folding the tank top in her hand and placing it in the basket at her feet. She saw Marcine sitting between Merle and Daryl, laughing with her eyes on Merle. She didn't understand it, didn't understand the way she was actually enjoying herself with them. They hadn't harmed her, when they had returned to camp Lori had made sure of that. If they had they would both be dead, she would have killed them herself. Marcine had been happy, cheered that she had learned to shoot a gun and that Daryl had given her a bow and some of his arrows. Like she was...was a pet to them.

"Lori relax," Carol smiled softly at her, pulling a floral shirt of her own from the clothes line.

Lori looked to Carol with a worn smile, sighing as she folded one of T-Dog's wife beaters. "I'm sorry, am i bothering anyone?" she looked down.

Carol smiled an apologetic smile. 'Well kind of..."

Lori shook her head. "I am so sorry, I didn't realize it was bothering anyone."

"Honey, you're a part of the group, we worry about our own."

"Well I think that's a little selfish," Lori mumbled, looking back over to the Dixon side of camp.

marcine was standing now, ducking into Daryl's tent while the two men seemed to be arguing heatedly about something. Lori didn't like that, how they acted like they were always arguing, which there was a high possibility they were but still. It unnerved her to know that one night or day it could turn into something big, dangerous. It had once, when Merle was drunk and began bragging about some woman he had shacked up with. Daryl had gotten furious with him, called him a loud mouth and Merle had pulled a gun on him. But Daryl seemed...seemed like he wanted it even when he was talking Merle down. It was strange and terrifying to everyone in the camp, save for Shane who had probably seen it on more that one occasion in his position as a police officer.

lori didn't want Marcine near that, but she was a grown woman and could make her own decisions. Lori just wished she made better ones.

**OOOO**

Marcine wasn't stupid, never had been. Always too smart for her own good, most of her classmates had said her entire life. Her mother, when she was around, always told her it was a gift, that she was special. But the thing was Marcine was only book smart, street smart eh not so much. She wanted to learn street smarts, needed to if she was gonna be able to do anything.

She looked over at Daryl where he was sharpening his knife, angling it right so he wouldn't bend the blade. He lifted it up and stared down the end of the knife, grunting and placing it back in position to drag the whet stone across it.

"Daryl..." she whispered, clenching the fabric of her jeans against her thighs tightly.

He paused and looked over at her, wyes as icy as ever. "What?"

She swallowed hard. "Well I uh...I was wandering if..."

She din't know how to word it correctly, and then decided that she didnkt want to embarass herself more and just shook her head, looking back to the fire in front of her. She heard Daryk sigh and looked back over to him, watching him stand and stretch. She stole a glance at his thick arms, muscles rippled and pulsed under the tan flesh and she found herself pulsing from the inside out. She had flashes of her dream, of him groping her, kneading her sensitive flesh then swallowed hard. looking back to the fire with crimson flushing her cheeks.

"Like what ya see," Merle muttered to her when Daryl walked into the tree line.

Marcine glared at Merle and flipped her hair back. "Shut the hell up Merle," she sneered at him.

She was changing, she could feel it thrumming through her every chance she gave it. She could feel something forming inside of her and in a way she liked it. It was helping her cope with the world, but she didn't like who she was becoming right now. She was actually enjoying Merle's company, was getting along great with Daryl. It was strange, in a way, because the rest of the group told her they were horrible people, made it seem like they were the lowest of the loe, but they had done nothing but help her.

"I seen the way ya look at him," he snickered. "should jump on him before that house wife tries him on for size."

Marcine tensed up for some reason and looked over her shoulder to Carol who was sitting, stiff as a board, at her husband's side. She also saw the way he was leering at his own daughter and her back tensed, disgust and anger latching onto her spine. She stood straight and swung her legs over the log, stomping towards that side ofcamp but a calloused hand grabbed onto her elbow and tugged her against a taught chest. She glared up into those icy blue eyes and growled low in her throat.

"Let me go," she jerked her arm in his grip, but he held fast.

"Th' fuck ya think yer doin?"

She waved a hand towards the other side of the camp. "You don't see that fucker looking at his daughter that way?"

Daryl looked over towards where she had gestured, taking in a deep, slow breathe and then let her go, waving her away as he reached for his knife. "I'm goin wit cha," he muttered.

She nodded and started towards the gross bastard, passing the sane side of the group. Shane stood and so did Lori, Shane looking like he was gonna say something before she swung a punch that knocked Ed to the ground on his side. Carol screamed and jumped up, going towards her husband but marcine locked her eyes with Daryl and pointed at the woman. Daryl nodded and snatched her up, restraining her while Marcine hunched over Ed, almost snarling as the whole camp watched, frozen.

"Think you can look at your daughter that way huh?" she hissed, pressing her boot against his throat, pupils dilating when she heard him gasp and saw him sputter in pain. "Think no one would notice?"

"Marcine let him go," Carol cried out, trying to fight her way out of Daryl's grasp.

Marcine whipped her head around, eyes wide and almost frightening. "And let him touch you like he does? Let him hit you and god knows what else to his own fucking daughter?! I donkt fucking think so!"

"Marcine this is not your camp, go back over there," Shane warned.

"Take him out girly."

Everyone looked over at Merle, who was rather serious, arms crossed over his chest as he watched her press her boot further into th man's throat. Marcine noticed the glazed look in his eyes.

"Merle," she breathed out.

"The fuck is going on here," Shane cursed, stepping forward a little.

"Get back pig," Merle warned, not looking away from Marcine. "He deserves ta die, ya don' know what he done to his family apparently. Let her do it, let her kill the bastard."

"No!" Carol cried, jerking her thin form forward but still unable to get away from Daryl.

"Let him go Marcine," Lori whispered.

Marcine twisted her boot into Ed's throat. His face was slowly turning purple then blue as he gasped for aie, but her boot was cutting off his supply. She grinned a toothy grin and leaned down, fists clenched behind her as she hissed against his face.

"Does it hurt? Isn't it painful? Donkt you wish it would stop? Tell me you want it to stop," she hissed. He choked out something but she didn't understand and lifted her boot off of his throat slightly. "What was that sweety?"

He glared now that he could breath. "Fuck you," he croaked.

She shook her head and tsked, pressing down again "Now that wasn't what I wanted to hear. Get those children away," Marcine ordered.

Lori and Morales jumped up, herding the children somewhere near the tents while Marcine leaned onto ed's throat again, Shane panting heavily and tugging on his hair a little. Dale stood then, dropping his fire poker into the dirt.

"Come on Marcine, it isn't worth it. Let him go," Dale tried to reason, taking a step forward.

When she noticed him getting closer she pressed further into Ed's throat and glared at him through her curtain of hair. "Fuck off Peacekeeper, he's gonna die right here, right now, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Dale took a step back and Merle took a step forward. "Get it over with girl, this has gone on too long. End it!"

And she did, with a quick twist of her boot she saw Ed's eyes widen then his body went slack in the dirt. Carol screamed behind her, but when Marcine looked back her glazed eyes shut Carol up rather quick. Marcine watched as Daryl let go of the woman and grabbed a hold of her, dragging her back towards their camp. Marcine looked back and saw the group yelling at Merle, who was kicking the dead man's body.

When her back connected with the bottom of the tent roughly Marcine snapped back to reality. She looked up at Daryl with wide, confused eyes.

"What did I just do?" she whispered, running a hand through her hair.

He ran a hand over his face, one hand on his hip. He looked down at her with a mixture of emotions in his eyes: curiosity, anger, concern, and lust.

"What did ya just do?! Ya just killed a man that's what ya jus' did."

She blinked, hands shaing as they curled into fists against the bottom of the tent.

"I...I really just killed him?" she whispered.

Daryl gave a dark chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well yeah, ya didn't hear his neck snap?"

"Ah Daryl don' be so hard on 'er, bastard needed ta die. Least we don' rape kids." Merle sighed, stepping into the tent.

Marcine didn't catch on, just was concerned about what she had just done. She just killed a human being...had enjoyed killing another human being. But like Merle had said, he deserved it. And the look in Merle's eyes...it was like he enjoyed watching her do it. He looked as though he was scoping her out for a talent competition and by the way they were both looking at her right now she had passed and would be moving on to the next stage of the competition.

"They ain't gonna let us stay 'ere anymore." Daryl muttered, sliding down to sit beside Marcine.

He rubbed his jaw and he and Marcine looked up at Merle, lost. What would they do? Daryl was right, they wouldn't let them stay here now. Daryl and Merle had helped her murder one of their group members, Merle had egged her on, told her to do it, gave her the courage to do it. And she couldn't get over the fact that she had actually killed someone, a living human, and enjoyed herself.

She didn't think it would ever feel like that.

_"Killing someone is easy to do, that's what makes it so dangerous."_

Marcine shook her head a little, sending strands of crimson around her face and shot to her feet, determined. "No, we stay. They can't get rid of us."

"And what do you suggest?" Daryl stood as well, sneering at her.

She looked over at him, contemplating her next move. Their next move. Then she slumped in on herself, sighing and shrugging.

"I don't know, but we are not leaving."

"We was plannin on robbin the place then leavin when we frlirst hooked up with em," Merle mentioned. "Could do it now."

Marcine shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself. "No...no I can't do that to those children."

Daryl growled low in his throat and produced a pack of cigarettes, pulling one with his teeth and pulling a lighter from his pocket. "Whatever," he grumbled, leaving the tent.

marcine him with sad eyes, then looked back to Merle who was smirking at her. "What?" she whispered, rubbing her arms.

"Gotta admit girl, ya were hot there fer a minute, turned me on," he reached down and took a hold of his hardened tool, tugging at it a little. "Wanna help me with this?"

She swallowed hard, looking towards the tent opening and her eyes sparked, the junctionbetween her legs suddenly catching fire and she looked back to Merle. "Fuck yeah."

**OOOO**

Daryl smoked on his cigarette, standing on their edge of camp, facing the other side. He watched Shane and T-Dog lift Ed's body up and start towards where they buried the dead, saw that pathetic housewife cry out and reach for the body. Lori caught her, tugging her back against her chest and held her there, fire in her eyes when she noticed the Dixon watching them. He actually liked Lori, even from here, after what marcine had done, he could see the loyalty to the young woman in her hard eyes. There was some serious devotion in those eyes and Daryl was glad they had one person that had some pull over there on their side.

He sighed and turned back around, walking back into their camp and froze after flicking his cigarette to the dirt. He could hear it, a soft moan, coming from his tent. His temper flared but he remained calm, ridged, but calm, and worked his way around the fire to crouch in front of the slightly open tent flap. He ground his teeth together when he looked in, seeing Merle rutting away at Marcine, her tiny hands clenching his shoulders as she threw her head back, moaning softly.

Daryl didn't understand why he was so angry, but he was. He jumped into the tent, ripping Merle from her and flung him outside. Marcine screamed, curling up and pulling her clothes over her body, shaking with the reflection of the fire in her eyes.

"Th' fuck is wrong wit cha?" Merle cursed, pushing his bare ass up and to his feet.

Daryl growled low in his throat, letting the tent flap flutter shut behind him. "Touch 'er again," Daryl saw Lori standing, watching their side of camp, but no one was running to marcineks scream this time. "And I'll fuckin kill ya, got me?"

_I meant to post this around midnight but i had to type it up on my phone so it took me a minute. Anway,I'm not sure if I'm gonna let Merle stick with the group or not, most likely not._


	8. She's Mine

_So believe it or not I am inspired by this story mostly by the School Girl Killers (rest those poor young girls souls) and the song Manchild by the Eels. Weird combo right?_

She feels horrible.

She feels like a slut.

Of course she should, she just half-fucked Daryl's brother in a fit of passion, of lust. She would half rathered it was Daryl rutting above her, twisting inside of her, then she bit down on the inside of her left cheek, hard enough to draw blood, to draw those thoughts in and keep them down. How can she think like that? There was just something about him, the way he stalked around like he was dominant, the way he…he protected everyone. That was it, it was the protectiveness. How could she be so stupid as to not notice? She wanted to hit herself, she had heard of that stuff before, some for m of Stockholm syndrome, but she wasn't held captive. She was nothing, barely a partner, to them. She was practically just sleeping at the foot of his bed, like a fucking hound.

She started running her fingers through her now knotted hair, roughly, and then growled when her long fingers caught on a tangle. She tried to be calm about it, really did, then almost snarled as she yanked her fingers through there finally, breaking through the tangle. She clenched her left hand, feeling the handful of hair and then shook her hand away from her body, as if the strands were some evil little creature. Her heart was fluttering in her chest, sounding like a hummingbird's heart beat.

"Marcine?"

She looked up with wide eyes at Glenn and Amy, who were looking at her with their own wide eyes, fear floating around in there. Marcine never wanted them to be scared of her, wanted them to like her, but that ship had pretty much sailed right?

She clasped her hands in front of her. "You guys I am so-"

"Marcine we won't let them send you guys away…" Amy snapped. "Ed needed to die…he was a pig."

Glenn looked over at Amy with worry and then back to Marcine. "Marcine what are they doing to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Marcine…I may not know you that well but I know you enough that what you did back there…that was something they would do."

"You didn't look human…" Amy whispered.

Marcine stared at them, venom boiling in the back of her throat. "Your point?"

Glenn and Amy exchanged a quick glance. "Look it doesn't matter," Marcine tensed under Glenn's hand as he caressed her left shoulder. "we just want you guys to stay. I mean, what if Shane let's another Ed into camp?"

"You'd be fucked, but how do you plan on convincing Shane or the rest of them to let me and the boys stay?" Marcine crossed her arms.

"We already have T-Dog, Lori and Andrea. Maybe Morales," Amy scratched the back of her neck.

"We don't want you to go either."

Marcine, Glenn and Amy looked to their right and saw the children standing there. They looked as though they knew they weren't supposed to be over here, but no one saw or heard anyone looking for them. Marcine raised a brow and slinked forward, crouching in front of Sophia who was worrying her bottom lip between her pearly white teeth.

"Honey I appreciate the support, really, but you all need to get back over there. I don't want you worrying your parents."

Sophia nodded but Carl stood, defiant. "You go we go."

Marcine blinked then smiled, placing both of her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere, you don't need to worry about it."

**0000**

He was so _fucking pissed_, angry, right now.

"Fucking slut…"he hissed, stomping on the rotting log.

It caved under his boot after the fifth blow, belching up dirt and dust into the air. Termites, ants and other creepy crawlers skittered from the hollow spot in the log, avoiding his boots as they swarmed out into the forest floor as though they knew it was him that destroyed their home. He grumbled as he stomped away, holding his revolver in his right hand. He just _really_ wanted to shoot something. He didn't want it to be silent, he wanted to hear the sound of flesh ripping, some cry of pain. He needed it, craved it, but it looked like his luck was running out.

"Darylina!"

Daryl whipped around, fire in his eyes. "Get th' fuck away from me Merle," he growled out, spreading his legs slightly into a solid stance.

The older male jogged to a stop in front of him, chest heaving heavily. "Fuck nah, why you so angray? Just some bitch, not yers."

"Your damn right she mine!" Daryl lurched forward, managing to make Merle jump back a little. "Told ya from day fuckin one she was mine! You got the last one, I was spose ta get this one!"

Merle rolled his eyes. "Oh please, bitch ain' even a virgin, useless."

Daryl swung the butt of his revolver around, knocking his older brother in the cheek. Merle stumbled back, holding onto the now bleeding cheek as he leveled a glare at his younger brother. Daryl rocked back on his heels slightly, a smirk gracing his scruffy face.

"Hurt?" he ground out, leaning forward at the waist slightly.

"Fuck right it does," Merle grumbled, spitting out a mouthful of blood."

"Good," Daryl turned his back on his brother, walking back into the forest.

He heard rustling a moment later and swung up and back from the left, cursing when Merle thick fingers wrapped around his wrist. Merle twisted and elbowed Daryl in the abdomen, forcing Daryl to drape across his back and gasp. Merle jerked on Daryl's arm and smirked in pleasure as he felt blood spray across his back and heard Daryl gasp again.

"Fuck you," Daryl hissed, worming his boot around and latching it onto Merle's right leg. "She mine."

He gave a quick jerk of his leg and they twisted, Daryl landing on top of Merle's back. He dug his knee deep into Merle's spine. Daryl scrambled forward, beating Merle's hand to the gun and clicked it against the back of Merle's head, successfully paralyzing Merle against the ground. Daryl smirked, his back rolling in pleasure as he felt his brother quiver beneath him.

"Do it," Merle growled, his breath making leaves and dust fly up and land on the back of his neck and head.

Daryl stared at the back of his brother's head, contemplating actually doing it. Should he? It was his brother after all, but he took what he wanted and he should pay. Daryl pressed his knee even deeper into Merle's spine and a twisted grin came onto his face when he heard the gasp of pain. He dug the barrel deeper. He should do it, he should make him pay for going against his own word. Daryl took in a deep breath, closing his eyes before he grit his teeth, opening his eyes. He pushed himself off of his brother, pushing against his back, but didn't let him get up so quickly. Just before Merle could push himself up Daryl pressed his boot into the back Merle's neck, just as Marcine had done to Ed, staring off into the dark of the forest.

"she a virgin when ya fucked her?"

"Hell naw man."

Daryl stood there for a moment then moved his boot from the back of Merle's throat. He watched his brother stand, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Like I told ya, go near 'er again and I'll fuckin kill ya."

**0000**

Marcine stared into the fire in front of her, rocking back and forth slightly on the log she sat on. Glenn and Amy had left long ago, taking the children with them. She was waiting on Daryl and Merle, hoping they would come back. What if they left her? What if they were sick of dealing with her shit and the group? They couldn't just leave her there, which would be feeding her to the wolves.

"Calm ya tits," Daryl ground out, ducking into his tent.

Marcine watched the tent flap shut behind him, a tear sliding out as Merle passed and ducked into his tent. They had been gone for longer than two hours and now they show up with nothing but Daryl telling her to 'calm her tits'? Marcine smiled into her knees, biting her lip slightly as she contemplated her next move. She couldn't sleep in Daryl's tent, she didn't even understand how he was staying in there. She knew he wasn't exactly sitting still, she could hear him moving around, grunting every so often and Marcine ran a hand through her hair. She could probably go get a tent from Glenn. He took night watch, he should be getting ready for it right around this time, he was willing to share.

Marcine sighed and stood up, walking around the log and slinking into the tree line. Glenn's tent was a little ways off, hidden but not too far in the woods. She could reach it with none the wiser. She swallowed hard halfway there, pressing her back against the tree, watching Shane stalk to his own tent, muttering angrily about something. Marcine wished Shane would just…kind of get his skull impaled by a really pointy stick. She breathed a sigh of relief and slid around in the brush, quickly moving across the bare dirt when she saw Glenn stepping out of his tent.

"Glenn!" she hissed, close enough for him to hear without anyone else hearing.

He jumped and looked around, glaring slightly when he saw her hunkered behind a thistle bush. "Marcine what the hell are you doing?"

"I need a tent," she whispered, eyes flickering around nervously.

He sighed. "Yeah give me a minute," he leaned his shotgun against the side of the bush and ducked into his tent.

Marcine looked around, nervous at being over here. Dale was working his way in top of the RV, Lori was walking to her tent, yawning into her hand and Morales was poking at the fire in front of him. Carol sat in a chair in front of her tent, sobbing into her hands in her sad gray dress. Why the hell was she mourning for that bastard? Was she afraid he would come back as a ghost and punish her for what happened? That was probably what was going on. Marcine shook her head and looked back over to Glenn as he stepped out from his tent. She took the tent with a small smile and he took a hold of his shotgun again.

"What do you need another tent for?"

Marcine swallowed hard. "It's uh…it's a long story, I don't want to talk about it."

Glenn watched her for a moment then nodded. "Well get on before Shane or anyone else sees you alright?"

Marcine smiled again. "Thank you Glenn. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

Marcine began to slink back through the woods, back towards her camp, chewing on her lip as usual. That meeting left something to be needed. Just a few hours ago Glenn had been so adamant about keeping her and the guys around, now he looked like she had shot his puppy.

"The hell you go over there fer?"

"Marcine jumped back a step, looking up at Daryl who was highlighted by the orange glow of the fire. "I uh…I went to go get a tent."

"Why?"

"Well I figured…I mean I just thought-"

"Stop thinkin," he snapped. "It's fuckin late, I gotta go hunting tomorra so get ya ass in there and go ta sleep."

Marcine stared up at him with wide eyes, wandering if he was out of his mind. Probably so, but shouldn't that mean she should _not_ be following him back into his tent? Didn't that mean she should _not_ be laying her head on the rolled up tent, back to him as she lets her eyes close? She should be in her own tent outside, far away from him. She should not have come over to this side of camp, asking for help. Should have stuck to the role of housewife to no one but herself in her tent back over there. What was she thinking? That she'd come over here, everything would stay fine and dandy, and she could play Ms. G-I Joe without anyone giving a shit? Oh hell no, she was a part of this side, adapting to their strange mannerisms, becoming what they fucking wanted. She had done what Merle had told her to do, she probably could have wormed her way back into that side of camp if she hadn't had listened to Merle and killed Ed. She was such an idiot, she knew it.

_Sorry it's so short, i typed it up on my phone again in class during my free time and I really don't see why anything should be added to it. I have about ten extra reviews just sitting in my email but they wont FUCKIN show up here and that is really aggravating._


	9. Just Maybe

_So glad the stories catching on the way it is. I didn't think I would do so well. And trust me honeys, my other stories have great reviews and apparently my writing is fine and well. I still appreciate the criticism, don't get me wrong, just making a point here. And the whole Shane thing…well I don't think he really thought she would or COULD do something like that. I mean think about it, Ed's this big ol' man and Marcine's really small._

* * *

"Marcine which color looks best?"

Marcine looked up at Amy and Carol, examining the dresses in Amy's hand with scrutinizing eyes. "Well who's wearing it?"

"I am," Carol muttered meekly, raising a small hand.

Marcine looked down then, not sure on whether she should answer or not. She killed Carol's husband, right in front of her when she had begged her not to. She didn't think Carol would want to be anywhere near her. Marcine looked up, biting her lip, and stood, walking around the fire pit to reach her. She squat down in front of Carol, grabbing onto the woman's and cradled them in hers, making the older woman look up at her. Carol looked defeated, but also relieved. Marcine reached up and cupped the back of the woman's head and pulled her forward against her chest, rubbing her back as she trembled.

"Carol…Carol I am so sorry for what I did…but I couldn't take him hurting you or your daughter." Marcine whispered against the woman's ear.

Carol pushed herself up, wiping at the tears coming from her eyes and gave a weak smile, rubbing her thumb against Marcine's left cheek bone. "I'm not holding anything against you Marcine, really. Ed was…he was a very bad man, in a way I'm happy he's gone. But Marcine I'm just worried for you."

Marcine sat back on her heels. "Why is everyone saying that? First Glenn and Amy, now you. Why is everyone so worried about me?" Marcine waved her hands around.

Amy stood and stepped over the log, looking down at Marcine with hooded eyes. "Marcine we already explained that to you, Marcine. Daryl and Merle Dixon are not people someone like you, a kind woman, should be anywhere near. Marcine we have ideas of what they've done, before and after the plague. Merle has said some things that just put us off. Marcine you seriously need to-"

"The fuck you talkin bout?"

Marcine looked up at Daryl, saw the anger flashing in his eyes and looked over at Merle who was staring over with this look in his eyes that meant business. Marcine stood slowly, swallowing hard as she let Carol go.

"Daryl what are you guys doing here?"

Daryl's gaze never wavered from Amy or Carol. "I'm goin huntin, thought I'd say somethin," he looked over to Marcine. "You comin or stayin?"

Marcine picked at her nails. "I guess I'm staying, but what about him?" she jerked her chin at Merle.

He looked over his shoulder at his brother and growled, then looked back over to Marcine. "He stayin. You stay away from 'im ya hear?"

Marcine nodded and started to wave before she realized it was useless and curled her fingers back against her stomach as he stomped away. She sighed and swiveled around to sit on the log beside Carol. Both she and Amy were staring at Marcine with concerned eyes.

"What," Marcine asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Amy sighed and walked off, still examining the dresses while Carol started to get the fire ready. "You're like a pet to them…"

Marcine tensed up. "I am no one's _pet_ Carol."

"Well it sure seems that way. They give you treats and they've even taught you to stay."

Had Carol grown gigantic balls or what? Marcine stared at her angry, pursed lipped, face as she stirred the small spark into the dried pine needles and added a small log. Marcine looked down, at the fire. It seemed like every serious thinking session she has had with herself has been centered around a fire in front of her. She guessed it helped her focus, didn't let her mind stray too far from what she was thinking about in the first place. She wasn't their pet, how could she be? Didn't she describe herself as a hound just two days ago? She reached down and started poking at the blood stain on her boot. She was surprised she hadn't been executed yet because of what she had done. She didn't want to stay here anymore…maybe she should leave. But where would she go? She couldn't defend herself against anyone, she was almost the same as she was when she woke up here.

Frail, weak and pathetic.

Just like Carol.

But a pet? No, she was not their pet.

"Yer thinkin too hard sugar tits."

Marcine and Carol jumped at the sound of Merle's voice. He was staring down at Marcine with critical, steel eyes but she didn't flinch, she was indifferent. "What Merle?"

He leered down at her, then glanced at Carol. "Skit," he ordered.

Carol shook and jumped up, casting one glance at Marcine before she hurried off towards her tent. Marcine sighed and stood, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now what do you want Merle? Don't you know your not supposed to be around me?"

"My lil brotha ain't my parole officer girl. He don't tell me what ta do."

"Well I really don't want you around me either Merle."

"Wasn't what cha said th' otha night."

Marcine looked away, rubbing her arms. "Well that was the other night Merle, I was being stupid."

"Can't fix stupid darlin."

Marcine looked back up at Merle, confusion muddling her brain. She couldn't deny Merle was good at what he was doing and he was right-Daryl didn't tell him what to do so why should he tell her what to do? She could go near Merle, if Daryl wasn't going to fuck her Merle sure as hell could. She felt like such a whore thinking that way. She had looked down on those women at one point in her life, she had sneered at them as she passed, laughed at them when they fell. But right now it was like she was jonesing for Merle, for some sexual relief. She shouldn't go for it…or should she?

She shook her head. "Go away Merle, just get the fuck away from me."

His eyes darkened. "Watch ye-"

"Enough Merle, go on."

Marcine looked over at Shane, watched him shift his weight, hands on his hips. She looked back to Merle but he was already walking away, cursing and kicking his way back to his tent. Marcine would have rathered fuck Merle than deal with Shane. She kind of hated Shane, but a confrontation with him was something she had been waiting for since she killed Ed. Marcine turned to face Shane fully, cocking a hip.

"What do you want Shane?"

"Ya killed Ed, Marcine. Asshole or not he was a part of my group."

Marcine barked out a laugh. "Your group? That's funny cus I think I distinctly remember people being independent thinkers. I don't remember anyone saying that you _owned_ them. Tell me Shane, how is this your group when really it should be Daryl's or T-Dog's? At least their living in the here and now, not trying to play house at a fucking quarry," she hissed the last part, eyes on Sophia and Eliza who were close and watching the two adults with curious eyes.

Shane huffed angrily and stood straight. "You killed one of our group members," he stated, as though she had no idea.

She threw her hands in the air. "Now it's our group? And so what I killed him?! I know you saw the way he looked at his own fucking daughter, I know you saw the bruises on Carol. He needed to die, he was someone that just didn't need to live in this world, in any fucking world," she leaned in close to him, venom laced in her voice. "and if you were _any_ kind of leader you would have killed him the moment you saw that bruise on Carol, the very first one."

"It wasn't your call."

"Well someone needed to fucking act or he would have hurt that little girl."

He threw a hand at her. "We don't kill the living."

Marcine's eyes grew strangely cold. "Well I do."

Shane looked at her like he looked at Daryl, like she was fucking scum. So what? Ed was scum, why didn't he look at him like that? What if he already…_touched_ his little girl? Who the fuck knows, only Sophia, maybe Carol.

"We're not through here," Shane called after her.

Marcine spun around on him, glaring with her hands curled into fists at her sides. If she were tougher, if she was better than a walking skeleton, she would attack him. Ed was adrenaline, she still didn't understand much of that incident but she did it and she doubted she could do it again, especially with Shane looking like a very capable fighter. Lori mentioned him being a cop, so she was defiantly outmatched there.

"You don't tell me that we're not through, I am through here. I am done taking to you, stay as far away from me as fucking possible. Between you and Merle I don't know who is bothering me more. Ed deserved to die, he was scum, filth of the world. I bet since they got here he had been raping his little girl!" By now Marcine could see the members of the group gathering, watching them. "And what the fuck did you do Shane?! Nothing! Absolutely fucking nothing! Why didn't _you_ do something huh?! Why didn't you get rid of him, you didn't have to kill him you could have just sent his ass packing and made sure Carol and Sophia stayed here, why didn't you fucking help them Shane?!"

Marcine's throat hurt from the strain of screaming, but she wanted answer's for the innocent ones. She wanted answers for a young girl that probably suffered at the hands of her father, for a woman that suffered in more ways than one at the hands of a man she had possibly loved once, that had possibly been kind once.

"Hell he made Merle look like a fucking saint when you compare them, and look at you…" she huffed, waving a hand at him as the other swung at her side. "Pathetic, claiming people that aren't yours, acting like the hero when you're nothing but a child playing hero. You disgust me, I don't know how Lori puts up with you. I don't know how anyone puts up with you, and I don't care if this fucked up our chances of getting to stay, I can't hold it in anymore."

"And we leavin," Merle announced from behind Marcine.

Both of his large hands clamped down on her frail shoulders and he spun her around, towards their tents. "The fuck?! Merle stop!" she fought against his grip, but it was no use.

"Shut ya mouth already, drivin me fuckin crazy," he pushed her towards the tents, watching her stumble forward before she whirled around on him. He was rubbing his face. "Ya fuckin stupid ya know that?"

"He's a fucking moron!" Marcine yelled, waving a hand at Shane where he was walking towards the Winnebago.

"Yeah yeah I know that, jus' listen 'ere ya shut the fuck up with him an jus' ignore em alright?"

"Yes oh wise and powerful master," she remarked sarcastically, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "When did you become so wise and grand?"

"Since I got fucked up a minute ago, listen ta me need him to stick aroun', play leader for a lil while longer aight?"

Marcine stared at him with critical eyes, chewing on the inside of her left cheek. "Why?"

Merle cursed low under his breath, shaking his head. "Don' ask questions ok?"

He turned before she could ask another question and left the tent, muttering curses wherever he was going. Marcine stood in her tent for a few moments, looking around and rubbing her arms. Where the fuck would she go now? Would she just sit in her tent and pout? She should leave, this group was breaking and she didn't want to be here for it. But she was weak, she was a coward most of the time. But she was growing up, she was trying to get along with these strangers and it just didn't seem to be working out. She was waiting for them to kick her out, waiting for them to kick the Dixon's out. If they left she hoped they would let her come with them, she could probably talk her way into them.

"Marcine?"

The young woman bent at the waist and looked out of the tent, seeing Sophia standing by one of the log's they had to sit on. She was fidgeting in place, picking at a small scab on the back of her boney hand. Marcine swallowed and stepped out of her tent, tucking her hands into the back of her jeans as she smiled down at the small girl.

"Hey there sweetheart, what are you doing all the way over here?"

Sophia looked up at her, eyes wide and swimming with raw emotions. That's what Marcine loved the most about children, they never hid their emotions, they laid them out for everyone to see and know. Adults…well they were tricky. They could hide their emotions so well, they had lived a few years honing that horrible skill and they used it a lot.

Sophia swallowed loudly and looked over at her mother laughing across at their camp then looked back over at Marcine. "What you said about my dad…" she looked down, hesitating for a moment.

"Sophia honey you have to speak to me, I can't read minds," Marcine whispered.

Sophia looked back up. "He was a bad man, he was always hittin on mommy….I wanted to thank you for doing what you did…"

Marcine crouched down in front of her, grabbing a hold of both of her arms. "Sophia what I did was wrong, very wrong. But your dad was a bad man and I couldn't let him hurt you or your mother anymore, that's why I did that. Killing is not fun or ok, it's only meant for the dead. I shouldn't have done what I had but I did and I might be leaving because of it."

"They can't just make you leave," Sophia shook her head.

Marcine let the little girl go, propping her arm up on her left knee. "Yeah well Shane might be making me leave, and I can't help it honey."

The small girl clenched her fists at her sides, looking determined. "No."

Marcine chuckled, watching the young girl walk back over towards her camp. She stood straight and dusted off the back of her jeans and her hands, looking around. She needed something to do, would love someone to talk to but it didn't seem like that was going to happen. She sighed and walked back into the tent, easing down onto Daryl's bedroll with a sigh. There were two bags behind Daryl's makeshift pillow, both small black duffle bags. Marcine lifted her left hand up and started chewing on the thumb nail. To be nosey or not to be, that was the fucking question. She gave in an turned back to the flap of the tent, zipping it closed and then twisted around to unzip one of the duffle bags.

Her lips twitched at the sides, threatening to turn into a smile when she saw a few genuinely difficult novels and a large photo album sitting beneath a copy of The Hobbit. She lifted the photo album into her hands, opening it and smiled a little at the image of an obviously drunken Daryl with his arm slung over a friends shoulder, his tongue out and a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand. She flipped through to the next page, eyes scanning over the pictures on both pages. The young children, two boys, looked like Merle and Daryl. In three of the pictures they were swimming in a creek, the smallest holding their hands up flat towards the camera as they smiled in one. The fourth picture was a little boy, looking an awful lot like Daryl, holding onto the edge of a bed, looking at an old man that smiled at him with bright blue eyes. She flipped to the next page. There were only three pictures on these pages, one on each. The first was Daryl as a teenager, leaning forward on his knees as he cleaned out a rifle on a worn blue couch, his eyes peeking up through his brows with a smile on his face. The second picture was of three women, maybe in their thirties, hanging off of Daryl as he laughed, holding them with ease. The third, last, picture was of Daryl holding a small baby in his arms. He was staring down at the baby with confusion in his eyes.

"Her name was Marie."

Marcine jumped and looked up at Daryl. He was staring at the picture with hollow eyes, three squirrels hanging off of his shoulder. "I thought you went hunting…" she whispered.

He shook the squirrels off, dropping them outside of the tent with a soft thud. "Looks like rain," he mumbled, falling down beside her and taking the album. He pointed a finger at the baby. "Marie," he moved his finger up to the arm behind him. "Her name was Jessica."

"Who were they to you?"

Daryl was silent for a moment, hand curling into a fist against the album top. "Jessica was a girl I knew, boyfriend ran off on 'er while she was pregnant. I was the only one ta show up when she had Marie."

Marcine leaned forward onto her knees, pulling her knees up to her chest. "What happened to them?"

Daryl swallowed and rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Jessica…she went a few days after she had th' baby. Marie was nine, got shot in a hold up. It was my fault."

Marcine's shoulders tensed. "Daryl…"

"Took her to the lake wit my cousins, Eva and Clark. Spent all day there, took off around three in th' afternoon and stopped by ta get 'er somethin ta eat…" his eyes were shaking as he ran his fingers over the baby in the picture. "I was a dollar short, had ta go back to th' truck and get more, she asked me not to leave 'er in there but the old lady behind the cash register convinced her to stay with her, they would look at a colorin book fer her. Five minutes, five fucking minutes and I hear a gunshot. Look back and all I see are these guys runnin from th' store. One got ran ova, his buddies left him. Never hurt so bad in ma fuckin life, holdin her whole she died. The old woman made it, but she didn't…."

Marcine reached up, hesitating, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, looking over at her then down. "Daryl…it wasn't your fault."

"Told me not to leave 'er in there but I did."

"Doesn't matter Daryl, that was those other guys fault not yours. You couldn't have known."

He looked back at her again and then down to the picture album, reaching one hand up to place it over hers on his shoulder. He flipped the page of the album and sighed, running his fingers over the young blond in one of the pictures. She was pretty, had a few tattoos on her arms and chest, exposed by the neon green tank top she wore. She had her hip cocked to the left and was smirking at the camera.

"That was Cassie, almost married 'er."

"What happened to that?"

Daryl shrugged, letting her hand go. She dropped her hand back and stretched her legs out. "She left one day, packed up all her shit. Woke up an' never really noticed until Merle pointed it out," he looked back at her. "He didn't bother ya today did he?"

"Daryl you were only gone for maybe an hour."

"Merle can do a lot in an hour."

He had a point. Marcine sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She had been doing that a lot lately. "He talked to me today but that was it, brought me back over here after I went off on Shane."

"At a girl," he reached up and ruffled her hair.

She blew a strand of hair from her eyes, rolling them. "I'm not a fucking dog."

Daryl shrugged again and closed his album, tossing it back over on top of the duffle bag. "So why were ya goin through my stuff?"

Marcine's cheeks flushed red and she looked away. "Sorry about that…"

She heard him chuckle and he moved closer to her. "Didn't get onto ya did I?"

She looked back over at him, noted how close he was. Her eyes flickered to his lips then back up. "No, but I still feel like a sorry is in order. I mean I was going through your stuff, you should be angry."

He shrugged and started picking at a loose thread on his jeans. "Ya right, I should be but I'm not."

Marcine smiled and nudged him with her shoulder. "Emotions look good on you."

He looked at her strangely, opening his mouth to speak but Merle charged into the tent. His chest was heaving and he was stained with dirt and grass stains. He looked between Daryl and Marcine, mostly focusing on Daryl. Marcine looked over at Daryl tensed against her side. He looked over at her as well, a sort of panic in his eyes.

"Think she can be trusted lil brotha," Merle panted heavily.

"Trusted with what?"

Daryl groaned and stood, stomping around his tent. "Do we really have to do this now?"

Merle groaned, tossing his head back. "Yeah, we kinda do."

"Fuck!"

Marcine stood, looking too confused for her comfort. "What's going on dammit?"

Daryl and Merle looked over at her, sighing. "Think ya can keep a secret?"

Marcine tensed up. She didn't know if she could keep a secret like this if they were acting this way. What was so bad about it, what could they have possibly done so bad that she had to promise to keep it a secret? Marcine swallowed, looking between the brothers. Merle looked like he had been in a serious scuffle, his arms and wife beater were coated in dirt, his jeans streaked with green grass stains. He had some blood drying on his chin and he had bags growing under his eyes. Daryl looked like he was ready to have a panic attack in the corner, his fingers threaded through his short hair and tugging.

She swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah sure, I can keep a secret."

* * *

_Over 3, 800 something words in this chapter! Woohoo! I plan on making the chapters this long and maybe longer at least now that this chapter marks the beginning of me following operation's original plot for the story. Hope it's good, I spent a lot of time working on this._


	10. Good Pet

_Anissa honey why don't you create an account? Oh and guys I have to tell you I cant update a lot, like real quick or anything. My internet isn't connected at my house right now so I have to go over to my mothers boyfriend (ugh) and use it there so it takes a day or two to get my chapters updated. And it may take a little longer lately because the chapters are gonna be longer and I cant whip those kind of chapters up quickly. By the way anybody else seen the Season 4 Premiere? Daryl and Beth were awful close in one scene…_

* * *

Marcine was strangely calm as she watched Merle and Daryl pull the woman from the back of the Cadillac. They let her go and she hit the ground face first, a sob coming from her lips. Marcine looked over at Daryl where he was standing off in the middle of the thin road, eyes glazed over. They had driven to a subdivision, a few miles from camp, just outside the city, no one saying a word. Marcine had thoughts on what this could have been, this…this was not on her list of possible outcomes.

"Daryl…" Marcine reached out to touch his arm but retracted her hand, rubbing the wrist. "Daryl why didn't you tell me about this?" she looked back down at the woman on the ground.

The woman twisted and cried, begging. "Please…please you have to let me go…" she whispered, looking between the brothers.

"Merle why'd ya bring 'er along for this?" Daryl growled, stepping towards his brother.

Merle looked his younger brother up and down, his tongue hanging from the corner of his mouth. He smirked over at Marcine, arms swinging at his sides. "So girly…ya gonna help us with this or not?"

"With what?" Marcine stepped back when the woman reached for her with bound wrists.

Merle waved a hand down at the woman. "Help us get rid o' her."

Marcine looked over at Daryl and he looked at her. "Can' help ya make up ya mind. Do it or don't, don' matter."

"Yes it does," she stepped closer to Daryl, looking down at the woman. "Daryl I can't ignore this."

"So go tell everyone else," Daryl threw his hand at her, turning around he walked a few feet from her and put his hands on his hips. "I didn' wanna tell ya but…"

Merle took a step forward. "Ya can stay with us and help or ya can go back to th' group and play house wife, choose now."

They were making her choose in this situation? She looked between brothers, fear and indecision in her eyes. Who's to say if she chooses the group they won't kill her or give her the same treatment they had given this woman? But if she stayed would she have to do this with them like they were asking now? Marcine swallowed hard and looked back down at the woman. She was groaning into the concrete, her body covered in small and large cuts, streaked with mud and blood. She was naked and most of the blood was centered around the junction of her thighs so Marcine could guess what happened. But her only thought was on whom did that deed. Merle, she could see that. In the back of her head she was just worried that Daryl had done that.

She took in a deep breath and stepped towards Daryl, my fingertips brushing against his elbow. He looked over at her, his eyes still clouded. "I don't want to leave you…" she whispered.

His haze lightened but he snorted and walked around her. "Don't be so fuckin sappy."

Marcine sighed and walked back over to the girl, placing her hands on her hips. "So what do we do with her?" Marcine asked.

Merle walked over, pressing his boot against the girls' joint wrists. She sobbed but went unheard as Daryl stuffed his red rag in her mouth, hovering around Merle. "Don' know yet…" Merle pressed down onto the woman's wrists. She screamed into the rag gag as Marcine heard bones crunch and snap beneath Merle's boot. Merle laughed and took a step back. "Take 'er in one of the houses."

Merle hefted the woman over her shoulder and started towards one of the houses nearby. Daryl and Marcine trailed behind him, both looking around rapidly, one out of nervousness, the other with simple curiosity. Marcine had never been inside such a beautiful place before, it was elegant and small. The house looked untouched, as thought it had never been lived in, but Marcine could see a few suitcases by the couch in the living room. Daryl marched over to the windows and pulled the curtains shut, looking around before he pointed at the couch.

"That's fine, don' need ta drag this out," Daryl muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Merle snickered and threw the woman on the couch, pulling out a large knife as he rested one knee between her and the couch. "Like em ta fight back," he sneered, cutting through the rope around her wrists. The young woman fought back the best she could, her hands sort of limp because of the broken wrists. Merle ripped the gag from her mouth, Marcine watching intently. "What's ya name sugar tits?"

The young woman whimpered, looking over at Marcine. "Please…please you can stop this…"

Marcine opened her mouth to speak but Merle took a rough hold on the girls chin and jerked her face back to look at him, his nose against hers. "What's ya name?" he growled.

She screamed when he took a hold of her left wrist and squeezed. "Shiloh! My name is Shiloh!"

Merle chuckled and pushed off from the couch, working on the buckle of his jeans. "Nice name, now ready ya self girl. Thanks ta my baby brother, I didn't get to nut with his girl and I'm jus' dyin ta get mine."

Shiloh's eyes widened and flickered over to Marcine who was huddled against Daryl's side, transfixed by this. Merle leaned back onto the couch, hovering above the woman as he held his tool in his hand. Marcine watched her face as it twisted into pain from him brutally thrusting himself into her. Merle groaned and his head lolled back, his hips rotating against hers. He grinned back at his brother and Daryl looked away, towards the kitchen behind him and Marcine. He touched her elbow and she nodded, following behind him as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Daryl…"

He smacked his hands flat against the granite island, glaring up at her through his brow. "Don' ask me why, aight?"

"But Daryl," she flinched at the sound of the woman sobbing in the other room. "I just want to know why. Don't you think I deserve that?"

He looked up at her then shook his head, leaning onto his elbows as he rubbed his face. "Started simple 'nough. Merle…he came home one night had this bitch in the back of th' truck, said he raped her, needed to get rid of her. Didn' wanna help at first, but I had to. He was ma brother…after that I liked it," their eyes met. "But I can tell ya, Marcine. I never raped a girl, not one of em."

"But you killed them…" she whispered.

He nodded. "Too many ta count."

Her brow furrowed but she couldn't find herself disgusted by any of this, couldn't see herself running away or even turning them in. Who the hell would she turn them in to? She couldn't bring herself to do that, not to them. As a matter of fact all she could think about was joining in on the fun. She wanted to witness it, become a part of it. Since her teen years she had wandered what it would be like to kill someone, of course that was her morbid curiosity she inherited from her mother.

"My mother…my mother did those kinds of things. She murdered a lot of things; she killed women, men, and children. When she was a teenager she had killed a lot of the neighborhood dogs and cats," Marcine rubbed the back of her hand. "I have to admit I've always had that curiosity in me but couldn't act on it. I bet I could now."

Daryl's eyes shot up to her. "Maybe we can help ya with that."

Her eyes sparked. This was wrong, thinking this way, acting this way, but it was the truth. Marcine wanted to know, wanted to feel it. It was dangerous, she knew, she had been told. She had witnessed it first hand, from a masked stranger that had let her live when she was eight. She was at school, it seemed like a normal day. Playing in the computer lab and stuff you know, then the alarms started going off and someone came into the lab. She was the only one to make it under her desk, but he found her, at the end. She watched a lot of her friends die and knew her momma would love to see this.

When he found her he started humming, completely in bliss with what he was doing and had bent down to her level. She had been shaking so bad, begging him not to kill her, let her live, and he did. But with parting words.

_Killing someone is easy to do, that's what makes it so dangerous._

She would never forget those words, she never wanted to because they made her understand things strangely enough. She moved around the island, fingers trailing through the dust built up on the counter top. Daryl watched her, his body tense as she moved closer, eyes set on him. She reached up slowly, placing her hand against the left side of his neck before she pushed herself up the extra foot and met his lips with hers. It was gentle, compared to the background noise. Their lips moved against each others, Daryl moving as though he was new to it. Marcine reached her other hand up and placed it against the other side of his neck. Her eyes flickered open for a second, seeing his half lidded and on her. Marcine stopped, pulling back from him to look him in the eye.

"Daryl…I like being around you guys, even if you are the way you are and Merle is the way he is. It doesn't matter to me, you're the only people I've fit in with for years and I don't want to be out there on my own."

"Ya could stay with th' group."

Marcine shook her head and took a step back. "No, I couldn't. Not after what I did to Ed. Even if he was a slimy prick they hate me now."

"Lori doesn't," he looked up sideways. "She'll stick with cha no matter what."

"And Glenn and Amy, but that doesn't matter, I want to stay with you and Merle, even if I have to do what you do. Even if I have to kill a bunch of people."

"Why?"

Marcine sighed. "Daryl…can't you just be happy that someone wants to be with you?"

He shrugged and moved to the cabinets. "I like to pick things apart."

**0000**

"Hear that?" Shane muttered to Glenn, looking up into the trees.

Glenn looked around, placing the gas canister against the back wheel of the Jeep and picking up another. "Hear what?"

Shane shook his head and adjusted the bill of his Sheriff cap. "Sounded like…a scream."

Glen shrugged. "I didn't hear anything."

Sane looked around again, glaring at the Walkers stumbling towards them. They were too far away to be a bother but Shane was still paranoid. More Walkers had been showing up every day now, it was bothering Shane. They must be running out of food in the city now and were spreading out. Shane muttered a curse under his breath and picked up two of the jugs Glenn had just finished off, placing them in the back of the Jeep before he went around to the hood of the Jeep and started looking at the map. His brow furrowed and he looked around the Jeep to Glenn who was loading the last of the gas canisters into the back of the Jeep.

"Ain't there a subdivision up ahead?" Shane asked.

Glenn looked over at him, dusting off his hands. He nodded after a moment. "Uh yeah, why?"

Shane waved him over and continued to look at the highlighted area. It wasn't large and it was rather far off the main road. "Don't think it would have been raided too bad, it seems like it was really out in the middle of nowhere."

Glenn looked over the map. "Yeah, they weren't done clearing out the woods around it to build more houses. Weird if you ask me. Maybe we should go and check it out."

Shane thought for a moment and his fists balled up against the map. "Wait a minute…where did those Dixons and that girl go?"

Glenn looked up, his brow dripping sweat. "Marcine said they were goin to a place nearby, about twenty minutes away. Think they could have been heading there?"

Shane nodded. "There's nowhere else to go unless they go into the city."

Glenn sighed and walked around to the passenger's seat. "Fine, let's go over there."

Shane grumbled as he folded up the map and shoved it into his back pocket. Those Dixons were bad for that girl. He thought she had been normal at first, but as soon as she went near them he knew she would change. And he was right, she had changed. She was becoming one of them, slowly but surely. Shane knew what they were all about, he knew they had killed before, humans and not Walkers. He had seen them on wanted posters up north, where they were supposed to be from. They had kidnapped and raped a few women, but it wasn't set in stone. You don't just kill women and then throw a few men in there, unless they get in the way of you killing the women. But those men had been kidnapped and tortured. Maybe Shane was wrong and they were just the normal rednecks, drunk and high all the time while also being extremely aggressive.

Shane rubbed his face, one hand on the steering wheel. He was thinking too hard, as usual. "Ain't that it up ahead?"

Glenn nodded. "Yep."

Silence again. The road was smooth, fresh, to the subdivision and it was a relief to Shane. All of the roads near the quarry were rough and cracked, unlevel. It was hell on the vehicles. They parked in the woods a few feet from the blood streaked brick sign declaring the name of the subdivision. Shane and Glenn stepped out from the Jeep, Shane holding onto his pistol tightly, Glenn holding onto his bat as he looked around. They started into the subdivision, eyes darting around in case there were any Walkers around. There were a few bodies lying across the ground, some recently killed Walkers. Shane pressed a hand against Glenn's arm, making him jump and stop. Shane pointed to the dead Walkers and Glenn looked around again.

"Hey there's Daryl's truck!" Glenn whispered, pointing at the blue pickup parked between two houses.

Shane opened his mouth to speak but a scream cut him off. They looked to their lefts and saw Marcine running from a house at the end of the street. She hit the concrete face first and screamed when a tall man grabbed a hold of her leg, pulling her back inside. He was dark skinned, but not African American or Mexican, and he wore an old jumpsuit. Glenn ran forward but one look from the man made him scuttle back in fear. Shane rolled his eyes and took one step forward, raising the gun and shooting. It skimmed across the his shoulder and he laughed, giving one jerk and pulling Marcine closer to him. An arrow pierced his skull and he gurgled, falling forward onto Marcine. She screamed for the third time and crawled out from under him, running towards Daryl and holding onto his arm.

"The fuck just happened here?" Shane shoved his gun in the waistband of his jeans and took a few steps forward.

Daryl shrugged Marcine off and she nodded, jogging back to the house she ran out of. He pressed the toe of his boot against the man's skull and jerked his arrow out. "Walked in on the son of a bitch rapin' some girl," Daryl shook his head, kicking the man in the skull. It gave a crunch and he smirked, looking up at Shane and Glenn. "tried to get Marcine."

"Where is your brother?"

Daryl raised a brow. "Back there wrappin the girl up, they should be out soon."

Shane nodded slowly. "Alright, they need help?"

Daryl moved to stand in front of Shane as he took a step towards the house. They looked each other up and down, both challenging each other. "They don't need your help."

Shane stared at him, eyes flickering towards the house in front of him. He saw Marcine's small figure race across the doorway and his eye twitched. He didn't trust what was going on in there, he didn't like it but he couldn't just jump into a fight with both Dixon brothers. He knew Glenn would be no help and Marcine could probably attack him. She may have been small but that was her advantage. She was fast, nimble and dare he say flexible. She could get the upper hand on him. Hell, Shane was too proud to admit a few emaciated women had gotten the upper hand on him on more than one occasion.

Shane took a breath and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine, we'll just wait here."

"Gonna be waitin awhile," Daryl muttered.

Glenn stepped forward, eyes wide. "M-Maybe we should go back Shane, they can handle this."

Shane stared at Daryl, eyes narrowed and crossed over his shoulder. He sighed, turning around towards the Jeep. "Fuck it…come on Glenn."

**0000**

Daryl stomped back into the house, breathing deeply and loudly in anger. He stopped in the doorway to the living room, watching Marcine hold the woman's legs down as she tried to kick at Merle, who was still ruttin into her like a beast.

"Almost got caught!" Daryl growled, looking out the window.

"Ah-calm down lil broth-nngh-er. Lucky that spook came out of hidin when he did," Merle panted.

Daryl turned from the window when he saw the Jeep disappear. "He woulda saw this we'd all be dead," Daryl waved at what was going on in front of him.

Marcine looked around Merle at him, brow creased in confusion as she let the woman's ankles go. She moved around Merle and crouched beside the woman's bobbing head, holding it still long enough to press her ear to her mouth. "She's dead."

Merle gave two long, full thrusts before he groaned, leering at Marcine. Daryl growled and grabbed her by her arm, pulling her behind him. " 'm done, let's bury the bitch and go."

Daryl shook his head as Merle pulled away from the woman, dick dripping blood. "Leave 'er, she'll change soon enough. Get your shit clean and then we'll go."

Merle rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottle of water that had all but materialized from the coffee table. Marcine looked away, threading her fingers through Daryl's. He kept his eyes out the window, looking for any new threat but squeezed her hand in his. Oddly enough he didn't want to lose her, didn't want her to leave him. He had only had his brother for so long he forgot what it was like to have other company, let alone a woman's.

He hadn't lied to her when he said he never raped the women they killed. He was the one that disposed of them, Merle did all the real dirty work. Rapin and torturing em…that was his thing. The men they had killed were testing their limits. Daryl was surprised they hadn't been caught yet, when the outbreak started Daryl knew they could probably flash it but didn't want to risk anything. What he would be risking he was clueless about but better safe than sorry. That pig, Shane, was on to them. He knew something, he was getting bold, but knew he was outnumbered alone with Daryl and Merle. Glenn wouldn't have helped, for Marcine's sake. Daryl had seen the little Asian boy following her around camp when she had first gotten there. It was pathetic and Daryl knew he would never stoop to that level of worthlessness. He was pretty worthless now but following a woman around like a puppy? Hell no.

"Daryl…Daryl come on."

Daryl looked over at Marcine as she tugged on his hand, pulling him towards the door. He nodded and let her pull him along, making sure no one was watching them as they left the house. Just on the threshold of the door he heard the woman reanimating, turning into one of those things. No evidence really. He was glad that spook had come out from hiding. He had been hiding in the kitchen pantry, chased Marcine around until she went outside. Daryl had to admit he was more than pissed when he saw that asshole standing over Marcine.

Merle sat in the driver's seat while Daryl sat in the passenger seat. There was room for Marcine to sit between them, like they had on the ride up, but she sat in Daryl's lap. As they drove Daryl caught her eye and could feel the heat from her sex against his. He swallowed hard and moved a hand up, settling the fingers right above her junction. Killing turned her on, just like it did to Daryl. It took him two years to get aroused by it, not like he was trying or anything, but up until then he had just done it because it was fun. When Merle showed up with tha hooker the first time Daryl was more than scared, of course he didn't show it. He didn't want to go to jail, he was an outdoors man. Not just because he loved to hunt or anything like that, but because he hated being locked in a box. He hated being stuck in a building for too long, school was hell for him.

"No heavy pettin les I get some," Merle's voice broke Daryl and Marcine's stares.

Marcine glared at Merle and Daryl chuckled, leaving his hand where it was. He stretched up, whispering against her ear. "Don' wanna share anyway…" he took her lobe between his teeth and pulled a little before settling back into his seat.

He smirked at the way she was frozen, eyes a little wide from his sudden actions. Daryl had been serious when he told Merle that she was his. He had claimed her the moment he saw her stumbling up that road, covered in blood. He would have preferred a virgin but she would do just find. And he wouldn't dispose of her like all the others. She was going to be his first rape, like it was a planned thing or a business deal. At one point in his life Daryl would be absolutely disgusted with those thoughts but after all these years he learned to embrace it. Seeing what Marcine was capable of…she was a partner now. Merle liked her and wanted to keep her, which was a rare thing so Daryl knew she could get better.

Carol had said she was their pet…if only she knew.


	11. These Emotions

"_Come on Cali!" Marcine called over her shoulder, looking around the street in a daze._

_The canine, a large greyhound, yipped at her and loped towards her. Marcine swallowed hard and stepped out from the trees, Cali at her heels. Her long fingers curled painfully tight around the handle of her bat. It was all she had, it was the only thing she had been able to find to defend herself for the past week. No guns, no nothing in the way of protection. But the bat worked, all she had to do was either cripple those things legs or their heads and she would be ok. _

"_You know not to bite them right?" Marcine whispered as the thing started limping towards them from a blood stained garage._

_The hound growled low against her leg and Marcine sighed at the sound of her nails clicking against the concrete. Marcine started forward faster, giving a grunt as she swung the bat up and knocked the thing in its jaw. The head pretty much exploded, sending goop and other things across Marcine's arms. She stood there for a moment, panting as she watched the body slump to the ground. She knew that man, knew who he was. It was her neighbor Jordan, he was two years older than her, he was like her older brother and she just killed him. But he wasn't him anymore, he was nothing but a brainless thing. She stepped around his body and started jogging down the street, Cali at her heels._

"_Just need to get away from the city…" Marcine mumbled, looking around for anymore danger._

_She was in Marietta, twenty minutes from the main city. She had to get away from it, she was surprised she had managed to get away from the place at all. She had been in the hospital, she was a nurse, and these men in military uniforms came into the room she was in. They had grabbed her and forced her out of the hospital. She remembered hearing gunshots and the whir of helicopters leaving the building, taking those they could. She remembered hearing an old woman crying for her daughter and a child looking for his mother. She had tried to help a few of them but the military men had shot them down. When they had gotten her outside she had seen men and women attacking EVERYONE. They had been biting and…eating the people they attacked._

_Marcine grit her teeth, charging at another Walker limping towards her. It reached its hand out to her and she slid out of its way, cracking the bat against the side of its head. It hit the concrete with a groan and a thud, still for once. "We need to get into the tree line," Marcine whispered, looking around._

_The Walkers seemed to stay out of the tree lines, sticking to the streets. That was weird, to Marcine, then again she thought most things were weird. She stepped into the bushes, groaning when she noticed that this was the last of the trees left ahead of her. After this she would need to stick to the interstate into the city. She bit at her cuticle, Cali sniffing around in the grass before she whined and started out of the bushes._

_Marcine jumped forward. "Cali!"_

**0000**

Marcine's eyes snapped open to the edge of the tent, her face blank and reserved for nothing. She blinked and stretched, her bottom brushing heartily against Daryl's crotch. She heard him groan and an arm snaked around her middle, tightly pulling her against his chest. Her breath was heavy in her ear and it sent a thrill through her, making her shiver and moan. His teeth bit into her neck, making her twitch and rotate. She held onto his hand tightly, as if she were afraid that she would float away if she let go.

"Feisty," he murmured against her ear.

He let her go and she rolled over, looking up at him with hooded eyes. "Don't start something you can't finish," she breathed, closing her eyes as his fingers dipped below the waistband of her sleeping shorts.

He stroked at her, earning a small gasp from her lips. "Who said I can't finish it?"

Shee glared at him. "The people waiting outside our tent."

Daryl growled and looked to the zipped flap. He could see a few faint shadows moving around and noticed the noise of their voices buzzing in a whisper. Marcine smirked and pulled his hand from her shorts, her tongue snaking out to lick at her own wetness on his fingers. He looked back to her slowly and Marcine slid her right leg between his and felt him stiff in his boxers. She grinned and pulled away from him, pushing herself up. She hovered above him for a moment, hooking her thumbs into the waist band of her black shorts.

She raised a brow, looking through the curtain of her hair as she smirked at him. "Want em off?" he nodded and she chuckled, moving over to the tent flap.

She heard Daryl groan as she stepped outside of the tent, arms folding over her chest as she saw Shane, Lori, Glenn and Dale hovering around the middle of the bare ground that separated their camps. It was like some cheesy turf war between the groups. Marcine snorted and took a few steps forward, hearing Daryl's putting on his jeans in the tent but she wasn't waiting for him. Merle was beside her soon enough, that was all she needed.

"What do you guys want?" she asked slowly.

Shane took the step forward, shrugging Lori's hand off of his arm. "Ya lucky we put it to a vote about you all staying here," he growled out.

Marcine looked over at Daryl as he came up, buttoning his shirt. She looked back over at Shane, taking a step back to be slightly behind Daryl. "And? What's the count?"

Shane did not look happy one bit. He looked down right angry and Marcine could practically see the steam coming from his ears. She giggled a little, catching a few looks but she placed a hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet. She guesses she was losing her mind now.

Lori stepped forward, a worn but happy smile on her pretty face, and clapped her hands together. "You guys get to stay!"

Marcine's eyes and smile grew and she launched herself at Lori with a squeal. "We get to stay! We get to fucking stay!" she squealed, clinging to Lori as they rolled on the ground, laughing.

Lori laughed a little. "Of course!"

Marcine pulled herself off of Lori and helped Lori up, smiling over at Daryl and Merle, Merle the only one smiling at her. "We don't have to leave…" she breathed.

She couldn't express how happy she was. True all she wanted was to stay with Daryl and Merle, but she would have missed Lori and Glenn and Amy and the other group members, minus Shane. But he was the one that decided whether or not she and the boys get to stay, who comes and goes around here, so she had to be grateful. Marcine tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear and stepped back towards Daryl, turning to face Shane.

"Honestly I thought there would be a big debate," Marine smirked a little.

Shane glared and shifted his weight to his left hip. He didn't understand how…gay it was. He had nice hips though. "I tried that…Lori and Dale wouldn't let me."

Marcine looked over at Dale, jerking her chin at him. "I didn't think you would op for me to stay."

Dale smiled at her a little, taking a step closer towards her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at it before back to him. "What you did wasn't exactly something I approve of but seeing Carol so happy…she actually played with her daughter like a mother is supposed to instead of going and retrieving wood while Ed sits on his…well you know what I mean."

Marcine smiled a little, looking to Shane again. "I know you don't like me or the guys Shane…" Marcine bowed her head a little. "but thank you for letting us stay."

Shane looked her over, obviously caught off guard by the kindness coming from Marcine. It was genuine today. She was glad they were getting to stay, grateful he was letting them. Even if Shane was an arrogant asshole, he knew how to protect the group, by letting Marcine and the Dixons to stay with them. They could keep the camp safe better than he could, he had to know that.

Shane rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed for being so rude, and then cleared his throat, holding out a hand. "Sorry about how I acted…Carol told us some of what he did to her and her little girl…"

Marcine stared at the hand for a moment then smiled and took it, giving it a tender shake. "It's fine Shane, really. You letting us stay makes up for it."

They let each others hands go and Shane gave each of them a nod, walking back to the other side of camp. Marcine ignored the mutters coming from him and turned around to the Dixons, a huge grin on her face. Daryl rolled his eyes and turned back towards their tent, ducking in while Merle chuckled and crossed his arms.

"Boy ain't grateful for shit."

Marcine nodded, turning back to Dale and Lori. "But I am, thank you guys, again."

Lori shook her head and waved her words off, taking a step forward to place her hands on the young woman's shoulders. "Marcine I'm just glad to have you still here. You're a great kid, I wouldn't have felt right sending you out there alone."

"She wouldn't 'a been alone," Merle growled behind Marcine.

She held up a hand, signaling for him to shut his mouth. She took a breath and smiled. "He's right Lori, I wouldn't be alone, but I'm glad to be staying. I like the camp, I like the kids and I like some of the people. I didn't want to leave…but Lori if any of you said only I could stay and they had to leave," Marcine looked over her shoulder at Merle, then looking over at Daryl as he came from the tent. "I'd have to go with them."

She looked back to Lori and saw that concern in there, in her eyes, again. She gave a small laugh and wiped at her nose, dusting her hands on the back of her jeans. "Of course…got me all upset and stuff. Why do you have to be so dramatic?"

Marcine smiled. "I couldn't help myself, seemed like the right time to bust out some acting skills. So what did ya think?"

Lori laughed again. "Fantastic, grade a stuff."

Marcine chuckled a little and then shrugged her shoulders for no reason. "Um, I gotta go bathe, anyone down at the quarry?"

"Don' worry bout that, taken ya huntin anyway."

Marcine and Lori looked over at Daryl, who was shrugging his crossbow onto his back. He was taking her hunting? That was all fine and dandy, but what concerned Marcine most is what they would be hunting exactly. Truth be told she was anxious to hunt her first person, male or female. She would ask him when they left, when they got far away from the group and everything. Didn't need anyone hearing in on that. Yesterday was a close enough call with Shane and Glenn. Marcine could never describe how terrifying it was to have that man chase her out of that house. She had been helping Daryl look for food in the cabinets, got close to the pantry and he had busted out. Merle had been no help, laughing as the man chased her around the living room before she had gone outside. It was a blessing in a way. If Shane and Glenn had seen what had been going on in that house it would have been over for them. She would bet Shane would have put them down like Walkers for it.

Marcine gestured at him and looked back over at Lori. "Ok…so I guess I'm going hunting," she looked over her shoulder at Merle, who was scoping out her ass rather bluntly. "You goin to?"

He shook his head. "Nah, goin on a run inta th' city tomorra. You two have fuun," he drew the last word out with a gross leer on his face and Marcine rolled her eyes, stalking over to Daryl.

She gave a slight wave to Lori and Dale, sticking close to Daryl as they stomped through the brush. "What are we huntin?"

Daryl looked up at her for a second before he snorted and looked back into the forest in front of them. "Deer, we runnin outta meat."

Marcine lifted her legs higher to get over the fallen, rotting tree in front of them. "I don't know why you supply them with food, their all assholes to you. Never seen such an ungrateful bunch of people."

Daryl grunted and turned his eyes to the ground. "Can say I uh…got a soft spot fer kids."

Marcine smirked at him. "Oh so the big bad," she noticed his smile and smirked wider. "sexy, feral," his eyes flickered to hers. "Daryl Dixon has a soft spot for the kiddies? That's hot."

He barked a laugh. "Sure it is."

"Real-is that a deer?"

Daryl grabbed a hold of the top of her head and pushed her down to her knees, making her want to cry when pain shot through her back. He raised himself up a little, slowly pulling the crossbow from his back, jaw slightly slack. He pressed the nose of the crossbow against the ground and tucked his boot into the back of it, an arrow in his mouth as he kept his eyes on the deer through the brush. Marcine had to bite her tongue extra hard when he slipped in the soft grass under his knee, causing him fall against the brush and effectively cause the deer to charge away from them. He cursed and kicked, throwing a little mini tantrum that was pretty amusing to Marcine. She sat back against the tree behind her, a smug look on her face as she watched his frustration leek out.

He noticed her look of smug satisfaction and glared at her, dropping the arrow in his hand. Marcine watched it stab into the ground, sticking straight up into the air. She looked up at Daryl as he crouched in front of her, eyes dark and calculating. He reached up and took a hold of her chin, jerking her forward. Marcine flinched on impact, knowing her lips would be bruised, but she kissed back, tongue snaking out to lick at his bottom lip. It was salty and it actually tasted musky, but she liked that. It was what a real man should taste like. He smelt like a real man should, almost acted like a real man could. Sure he could get more in touch with his feelings but honestly Marcine believed that was what attracted her to him, that whole 'I-could-care-less-about-feelings' thing he had going on.

He moved his hand from her chin to her left knee, his other hand on her right knee and he spread her legs. She complied, parting from him for a moment to catch her breath but he just moved his lips down to her jaw and then her neck, suckling and biting every now and again as he stroked her through her shorts. She gave out a small moan and reached one hand up to hang across the back of his neck.

"Coulda…let me change before we left," she panted, whimpering when he hooked a finger into the edge of her shorts.

He smirked against her skin. "Less clothin the better right?"

She whimpered again as he slid a finger across her lips, sending shivers through her body. She bucked against his hand, getting a good grip on the neck of his shirt. "Please…not here."

He paused, pulling back to look at her. "Seriously?"

She nodded, heat rising to her cheeks. "I…I want to be somewhere I can feel safe. I don't feel safe out here, so in the open."

"Ya safe as long as your with me," he grumbled.

Marcine looked down. "I know that Daryl…just wait until I get somewhere I do feel safe. I'll let you do anything to me."

He looked over at her, eyes narrowed in thought and he shook his head, standing and moving to grab his arrow from crossbow from the ground. "Let's go 'fore that deer gets too far."

Marcine nodded to his back and pushed herself up, following behind him closely. She swallowed hard and pulled the tie from her wrist, pulling up her hair into a high bun. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her knees were weak from his 'attack'. She wanted more, craved more, wished they could have pressed it but she wasn't ready for it out here. She couldn't wait for it, and she would stick true to her word of letting him do anything to her. She wanted to let him do anything to her. She had never wanted anything so much in such a wrong way.

And that scared her.

**0000**

"I can't believe she would want to stay with them," Lori muttered, leaning back to rinse the shampoo from her hair.

Carol looked over at Lori and shrugged, looking up at the top of the cliffs as she scrubbed at her boney arms. The bruises were healing, a few a faint yellow around her bicep. "I can, she's a pet, nothing but a pet and she listens to her masters. That's the way it is for a submissive woman."

Carol knew all too well about what she was talking about. She had been a submissive woman for so long, she knew one when she saw one. She could spot a submissive woman from a mile away in public and she could see it in Marcine right away. The strange thing was Carol knew there were two different sides to Marcine, knew there was a strong woman beside the submissive one. It was a dangerous combination because they were two conflicting sides.

Lori grumbled to herself and looked around before she hurried from the water and grabbed the conditioner. She all but dove back into the water beside Carol, making the older woman chuckle and look around again. Bathing in such an open space was so unsettling to Carol. Lori laughed when she came up from the water, shaking her hair. Carol closed her eyes against the droplets of water.

"Ugh this water feels so good," Lori sighed out, running conditioner through her long hair.

Carol gave a half smile. "I wish I still had all of my hair."

"Where'd it go?"

Carol shrugged. "Ed didn't like it, made me get it all cut off."

Lori glared at nothing. "That's one thing I like about Marcine, she didn't put up with his crap."

Carol smiled a little. "Yes, I'm glad it's over. That may have been a horrible thing but I couldn't be happier. I know Sophia is happier already."

Lori nodded. "The kids love Marcine."

"Kids are excellent judges of character. They love Daryl too, even if he pays them no mind."

Lori chuckled and tossed the now empty bottle of conditioner onto the land. "They're like animals in a way. The less you care the more they love you."

Carol's head snapped up as she heard her and Lori's name called. "Clothes."

Her and Lori hurried back to the bank and jerked on their clothes, both of them getting their jeans buttoned just as Shane and Glenn came jogging from the path. Shane came to a stop in front of Lori, looking concerned and angry. "We need you guys back up there, need to discuss who goes on a run."


	12. An Attack

"I never understood hunting…" Marcine muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Daryl snorted across the fire, pulling apart the thick piece of meat in his hand. "Seriously?"

Marcine ran a hand through her hair. "I mean, I understand it and everything. Food and survival, all of that delicious shit. But what I don't get is how it's fun to some people."

"Ain't fun ta me," Daryl muttered, looking over the fire at her.

Marcine couldn't help but watch the reflection of the fire dance in his eyes, feeling small but special with his words. The way he spoke, so low, meant he was going to give away a piece of himself to her. She was always right in that sense, always knew when those secrets were coming out. She leaned forward a little, mouth quirking in the left corner.

"Well what is it to you?"

He looked down for a moment and took in a deep breath, pulling his left knee under him and propping his elbow up on his right knee. He rubbed his face slightly; Marcine could see him shaking from where she sat. He didn't want to say anything. Emotions weren't his thing.

"Huntin been my escape, from family. Merle and Pa, assholes. Ma was better but she went crazy after awhile…"

Marcine swallowed. "My mother never really paid any attention to me, she was always there for my sister. They were the proper ones, the ones that wanted to be high class and all that jazz. I didn't care for it, I mean sure it would have been nice to be high class but really I just didn't want to do the work."

"Why wouldn't ya?"

Marcine shrugged and looked down. "Just lazy I guess. I've never done anything in my life worth doing until after the apocalypse. And now I'm sitting here with a serial killer and enjoying myself. Boy I would love to see my mothers face if she knew about all of this."

"She dead?"

Marcine shrugged and looked up. He was staring into the fire, chewing slowly on a piece of meat hanging from his mouth. "When everything went down I was at work in the hospital. I tried to get to the house but the roads were closed off. I had to leave the city, when I managed to get back in there were too many Walkers and I had to head back out."

His eyes flickered across her then he pushed himself up enough to get something from his left front pocket. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and flipped the carton open, pinching the filter of one between his teeth and tugged it out. He offered the pack to Marcine and she crawled on her hands and knees around the fire, taking the pack as she settled beside him. She used his cigarette to light hers and took a thick drag.

"How'd ya get so skinny," he asked, running his finger along the curve of a protruding rib.

She swatted his hand away and took a drag from the cigarette, blowing the smoke out of her nose. "I uh…I got into a really bad depression before the apocalypse. I starved myself for a long time, punishment I guess."

"For what?"

Marcine looked down at the fire, swallowing hard, and flicked the ashes from the end of her cigarette. "I had a miscarriage. I don't know what it was that caused it and it killed me. I couldn't do anything, I didn't leave my house for a week. Didn't eat, didn't sleep. I just sat in the bathroom and stared at the wall. It's a wonder I didn't die in there…"

He didn't touch her, didn't comfort her. He was silent beside her, and she didn't want that. She wanted him to hold her, say something to ease her guilt but nothing happened. Of course it didn't, what she wanted and what he could give were far apart. He wasn't good with emotions, and that was all she wanted from him. She put out the cigarette in the dirt and pushed herself up from the ground. She started walking out into the dark of the woods but a hand grabbed onto her elbow and whipped her around.

"Th' fuck you think yer goin?" he growled.

It was too dark where they were to see his face, it made her uneasy. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp but he wouldn't let go. "Let me go Daryl, now."

He jerked her closer. "You don't tell me what ta do."

"Let me go Daryl!"

He twisted her around, scrunching her hand up behind her back. His breathing was heavy in her ear as his lips brushed against it. "Ya don't tell me what ta do," he growled out again.

She grit her teeth from the pain and her knees wobbled, making her slump down to the ground. He followed behind her, pressing his chest against her back. "I thought you said I was safe with you,"

"Never said you were safe from me," he growled out, pushing her down.

She whimpered, dirt and debris being inhaled through her nose. She pressed her hands flat against the ground but he pressed his own hand against her back, keeping her down. Her heart beat picked up its pace and her eyes flew open, searching around wildly for help. She knew what this was, she knew what he was doing. His other hand was tugging at her shorts, and they came away easily. They landed in the dirt by her head and she whimpered again, trying again to sit up but he pressed against her harder.

"You're just like your brother," she ground out, nose twisting at an odd angle.

And just like that he froze against her back, his fingers tighten in her shirt and she squeezed her eyes shut again. He was like Merle right now, he was sex hungry. He was trying to make her do something she didn't want to do, she thought he was different. He told her he was different, and he was wrong, she was wrong. Dead fucking wrong.

"Fuck," she heard him spit out.

His hand came off of her back but she stayed where she was, shaking against the ground. She watched his hand come up and grab her shorts, forcing them back onto her roughly. He pulled her up roughly with a grip on her elbow and turned her around to face him. She stared at him with fearful eyes but a placid face, hands curled and shaking against her chest as he dug his fingers into her elbows. His eyes flashed around her face, looking for something but apparently not finding it. He grumbled and rubbed his face, one hand still holding her.

"Daryl it's fine…" she whispered. "You're not like your brother because you stopped."

"Ya wanna stay with us, both of us."

She nodded. "Yes, I just don't want to be the one begging for you to stop. If it's anyone else…well they don't matter."

He stared at her for a moment, brow creased in frustration before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes slowly, waiting for him to close his, and ran her tongue along his bottom lip, wrapping her free arm around the back of his neck to draw him in more. This she could handle, this was simple. It was kissing, it was a simple, hungry kiss that Marcine would rather take further but only with her own pace. If he forced her into it she didn't know what to do.

He pulled away from her abruptly, placing a hand over her mouth and forcing her back to the ground. He kicked his boot back, dousing the fire in dirt, putting it out. Marcine struggled for a moment, her heels digging into the dirt but slipping. She had flashes already, of what he could and would do to her. But he just looked over her head, lips pressed against her forehead as he hissed lowly at her. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, calming her body to sit still under his bulk.

She listened carefully, could hear the bushes moving, but it wasn't the stumbling of Walkers, and she didn't hear any moans. She heard some muttering and a lot of steps, like more than one person. The mutters were deep toned so it was a man, maybe a group of men, maybe only two of them.

"Swear I saw something over here," the deep voice picked up.

Marcine heard them stop and another voice spoke up, it sounded like a young man, like a teenager. "Guess your eye sights turnin to shit old man."

"Watch your mouth boy or I'll string you up from one of these trees."

"Whatever, if there's nothing here let's just go."

"I wanna go look over there though, let's go and then we'll leave."

Daryl muttered too low to hear and he jumped up, grabbing a hold of his crossbow and Marcine scrambled to her feet, trailing close behind him through the bushes.

"Hear that?" the young voice asked.

Marcine squeaked as she tripped, falling flat on her face. She whimpered and tried to push herself up but it didn't work and she just groaned into the dirt. She looked up, looking for Daryl but she didn't see him and her heart started beating loudly in her ears. She looked over her shoulder, hearing the two men getting closer. She started to drag herself away, towards the thick bramble just out of reach. She could handle thorns digging into her skin, what she couldn't handle was two men she didn't know.

"Hey look at this."

Marcine jumped and looked over her shoulder, a tears slipping down her dusty cheek. There was a man, just like Merle but with a large beer gut grinning down at her. A young man, a teenager obviously, came up behind him and stared down at her through the faint glow of his phone's light. He looked between her and the man beside him with wide, hazy eyes, finally moving back a little.

"Think she needs our help son," the older man murmured, reaching down for her ankle.

Marcine tried jerking her leg away but it was no use, he pulled her towards him with ease. "Let me go fucker!" she growled, trying to kick at him but she came just short of his chin.

He laughed and turned around, draggin her back through the bushes. The teenager hesitated but followed at her head while she cursed and kicked, digging her nails into the ground. She felt a nail rip off but she didn't care, she was still trying to get away, somehow keeping her cool and not freaking out. She was angry, pissed beyond belief. But she knew Daryl would be back for her, and that made her fight even harder. She didn't want to depend on him, she didn't want him to think he had to save her all of the time.

"What you waitin for boy? Come help me," the older man grunted, trying to catch her swinging leg but it was no use.

The teenager hesitated at their sides, looking terrified, like he had never seen this man this way. Marcine smirked over at him when she saw the shadow moving behind him and threw her head back, laughing like a maniac. Karma was a motherfucker, that should be Daryl's nickname. Karma.

"The fuck is wrong with this bitch?" the older man looked down at her with a creased brow.

Marcine laughed again, feeling blood spray across her face as Daryl dug the knife into the teenager's skull. Daryl pushed the young man's body forward and he landed atop of Marcine, who grunted at the weight and felt her leg drop. The older man stared at Daryl with a slack jaw and wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing. He swallowed thickly and took a step back, looking between Marcine and Daryl frantically. Marcine pushed the young man's body off of her and dusted her hands, holding one out to Daryl so he could jerk her up onto her feet.

"Ya ok?" he asked, not looked away from the older man.

Marcine nodded and folded her arms over her chest. "Yeah I'm fine, what do we do about him?" she jerked her chin at the man in front of them.

He didn't run which was stupid, but he seemed frozen, like someone pressed pause on him. Only his eyes moved, flashing between the two of them and then the tree line, which wasn't that far away. He could make a break for it and neither one of them would follow. Well, Marcine knew she wouldn't, but she thought Daryl might. The man swallowed and took a step back, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He was a snake ready to strike, but Marcine was unsure of which way he would go. Flee or attack, considering he was outnumbered with no weapons on him he would probably run.

And that's what he did.

"Damn he's fast," Marcine observed, hearing his rustling growing further by the second.

Daryl nodded. "Come on, we wasted enough time."


	13. Left Behind

"Daryl calm down," Marcine tried, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

Her whipped around, the back of his hand connecting with her cheek. She whipped around to the ground, holding the throbbing spot and stared up at him through her hair. He stood above her, his chest heaving before he growled and turned around, walking back towards their tents. Lori jogged over to Marcine and wrapped her arms around the young woman but she wiggled out of Lori's arm, stumbling to hr feet, hands clenched at her sides as she stared at this 'Rick' person. He was panting, blood and dirt stained shirt stretching over his chest. He looked downright terrified of the tiny woman and he should be, if she could she would kill him.

"We're going back for him," he tried, slowly.

She growled, taking a step forward. "Did you ever think maybe he had people here waiting for him? Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, there were people that needed him?!" her lower lip was starting to tremble.

He stared at her for a moment then looked down, shaking his head. Marcine wanted to scream, kick or attack, just do something, anything, but she couldn't. Not without the rest of the group losing their fucking minds and attacking her. Marcine ran a trembling hand through her hair and breathed in deeply through her nose. She had to think rationally right now, she had to for Daryl. He wasn't in his right state of mind, never really was, but after the news…hell he was even more unstable than before. She turned around on her heel, eyes sweeping around the people staring at her, and started back towards their tent.

Rick swallowed thickly and looked over at his wife, feeling his heart inflate even after everything. "What is…"

Lori shook her head and steered him back towards their own tent, catching Shane's eyes for a moment. "Daryl and Merle found her somewhere down the road, when she got here she was nothing but skin and bones. She went straight to them two and asked them to help her learn to survive and they were teaching her," Lori ducked into the tent as Rick held open the flap. She sat on her 'bed' and Rick sat beside her, threading his fingers with hers and resting their hands on his thigh. "Carol says she's more of a pet now, to them. I'm starting to believe that. She killed Carol's husband. Merle told her to do it, told her to 'end it', and she listened to him."

Lori could remember that night all too well. She was glad for it in a way, Ed was a pig and he deserved to be punished. Carol and Sophia were happier after it and Lori was happy that she didn't have to worry about eyes on her when she bent over to do something.

She swallowed hard and rubbed her forehead. "And you saw the way he treated her and how she still defended him, went after him to I guess comfort him," she looked over at Rick. "I'm afraid he's going to hurt her if he already hasn't, more than he has by slapping her like he did. I don't want her to get hurt, I like that girl."

Rick raised her knuckles up to press his dusty lips against them. "I can tell, and I wish I could help her. But I think the only thing I can do is take her into the city to get Merle back. He's safe as can be on that roof. Nothing can get to him."

"I don't want her in the city," Lori said sternly, pulling her hand away from her husband's hand.

Rick chuckled a little, feeling his chest ache as he took in a breathe. "Listen, she needs as much closure as Daryl and getting Merle back will calm everyone down."

"Or they'll leave the group," Lori tossed out there.

Rick sighed and stood. "Yeah, there's that," he looked down at Lori, placing his hands on his hip. "but there's also the chance that they will stay with the group. Just let me do this, let US do this."

Lori looked up at him with angered eyes. She didn't want her husband going back into that city, she wanted him to stay here with her where she would at least know what happened to him if anything did. She didn't want to wonder if he was ok, she didn't want to wonder if her son lost her father again. She didn't want to sit here and wander if she would be a widow for real. She didn't want to sit here and be hounded by Shane, who was as big of a mistake as a teenage pregnancy. She stood, rubbing her long face, and stared at her confusing husband. For him to go save someone like Merle Dixon, to risk his life for someone like Merle Dixon, was painful, but she wanted Marcine happy. She didn't know what it was that made her gravitate towards the young woman so much, but she wanted her safe and happy. And if that meant letting her and Rick run off to the city and endanger their lives for someone like Merle well she would have to let them. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, tonguing the inside of her left cheek.

"You and her are trying to give me gray hair."

**0000**

"Daryl?" Marcine whispered, lifting open the tent flap.

He was sitting on the bedroll, stuffing things in a bag with his back to the 'door'. She swallowed and stepped inside the tent, zipping it closed behind her, and crouched down beside him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he whipped around, pressing her into the tent floor with both hands firmly on her shoulder. He practically growled at her, teeth bared and he got close to her face, blue eyes staring into her dark ones.

"Do not _ever_ touch me."

She shook a little. "Daryl what the hell is wrong with you?"

He pushed himself up using her as a support and she cried out at the pain his weight caused on her bones. He stood above her, panting, and then reached down, grabbing her by her forearm and jerked her to her feet. She stared up at him with wide eyes, rubbing her left shoulder. This was the second time he had hurt her in the last twenty minutes. She didn't know how safe she really was with him.

He cursed and turned around, crouching down to the bag he had been packing. He paused for a moment and then cursed, tossing the bag against the wall of the tent. Clothes and other things flew everywhere and Marcie squeaked, jumping back a step. He stood there for a moment, hands braced at his sides before he turned around to look at her again. She swallowed thickly as he rubbed his face.

"They fuckin left 'im behind," he muttered, placing his hands on his hips.

Marcine nodded. "And we're gonna go get him."

He looked her up and down and nodded, reaching for his crossbow that was leaning against the makeshift table in one corner of the tent. "We're going today, right now. Let's go."

Marcine nodded and turned to her weapons Daryl had given her. She looked back over at him and he knew the dilemma, digging into his back pocket. He passed her a pistol and she cradled it in her hands, testing the weight. "I would rather bring my bow…" she muttered, following him out of the tent.

"Yeah well get over it."

Marcine shrugged and looked up, seeing that Rick person talking to Shane and T-Dog. Rick was dressed in a cop uniform, his clean face too serious for her liking. He looked up when he noticed them and so did Shane, he glared at Daryl and Marcine, unlike Rick who just stared. He shoved an absolutely gorgeous pistol into his gun belt and Shane growled, walking away, well more like stomped away. Rick took the few steps to clear the distance between the dup, T-Dog and Glenn following at his heels.

"We're ready to go, what about you guys?" Rick asked.

Daryl and Marcine looked between each other. She knew he wanted it to just be her and him, but we would need the back up. MArcine shrugged and stepped forward a little, willing to bridge the gap between Rick and Daryl. "We're ready to go, but why are they coming?" she jerked my chin over at T-Dog and Glenn.

Rick looked over his shoulder at them and shook his head a little, looking back over at her. "Glenn is our navigation, T-Dog feels responsible."

"Because he is responsible," she growled.

T-Dog narrowed his eyes for a moment and then he sighed, making Marcine glare at him. "I didn't mean to drop the key," he defended, crossing his arms.

Marcine rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I don't care. Let's get the fuck out of here and into the city alright?" she stomped past the three men.

Daryl grunted and followed behind her, pushing past T-Dog roughly. Rick stared after them and then looked over at T-Dog and Glenn. "Guess we're leaving then…"

**0000**

Marcine dug her teeth into the man's hand, hearing him scream out in pain and let her arm go. She didn't let his hand go, kept a tight hold as he swung her battered body around, teeth digging into his chubby hand even as he reached up and knocked her in her head. She dug in again, feeling her teeth touch through the webbing of his thumb and forefinger. He screamed loudly and really started tossing her around, knocking her against the dumpster beside them, and finally getting her to let go. She hit the ground with an oomph and crumpled, watching them scramble to their car, guns and Glenn in their arms. She pushed herself up sloppily, blood dripping from her narrow chin, but Walkers crowded the chain link fence and she screamed, stumbling back a few steps. She stood there for a moment, watching the Walkers gnawing at the chain link. She whipped around, running over to Daryl, who was laying on the ground, groaning with his back arched in pain.

She placed both of her hands on the sides of his face, patting his cheek a little. "Daryl…Daryl are you?"

He nodded and nudged her off of him. "I'm fine, leave me alone."

She nodded and looked up, narrowing her eyes at the thin boy staring at her. She looked down her front, seeing the thick layer of blood down her front, and then she looked back at him with narrowed eyes. His eyes flickered up to hers again and he whimpered, scrambling to his feet but she was quicker, lighter, and she launched herself at him, successfully tackling him to the ground as Rick and T-Dog came around the corner.

She bent low, hissing in his ear. "See what I did to your friend?" she licked the blood on her lips and grinned, pressing her thumb nail into his chest.

He screamed but she clamped a hand over his mouth, pushing herself up with the nail pricking his skin. Blood was beginning to rush and stain the nail of her thumb. "What happened?" Rick asked, jerking the boy to his feet.

"Little fucker and his buddies took Glenn," Marcine growled, jumping at the boy to make him jump.

"Marcine calm down," Daryl stepped up to her side.

Rick muttered a curse under his breath and then looked over at Marcine. "Think you two can go look for a safe place for us to figure out what the hell we're gonna do?"

Marcine nodded and grabbed onto Daryl's arm. "Come on."

Ten minutes later they were all sitting in an old office room, staring at the young boy with scrutinizing eyes as he ran his mouth. Marcine and Daryl locked eyes and she grinned, looking back over to the boy. He tensed up, eyes focused on her when they should be focused on Daryl. Marcine laughed like a maniac when she saw the hand fly into the boys lap. He stuttered and sort of screamed and tossed the hand somewhere else, pushing the chair he was sitting in back.

"You fuckin psycho man!" he screamed a little.

Marcine and Daryl chuckled, Daryl leaning against the wall beside Marcine. "I think we should leave this group afta this," he muttered into her ear.

She shivered and tucked her ear against her shoulder for a second, looking up at him with half lidded eyes. He was smirking down at her, one eyebrow raised. "Don't get close like that again," she hissed.

He looked over at T-Dog and Rick, who were paying little to no attention to the two of them. He leaned back in, pressing his lips against the tender skin below her lobe. A shiver rocked through her and she reached up, dragging her nails across his bicep. Her eyes stayed locked with the other three in the room, making sure they didn't turn around to see what they were doing. His tongue trailed up and down her throat, making her bite her lip to hold back the moan she wanted to give. He smirked against her throat and pulled back, straightening against the wall. She glared up at him, cheeks flushed, and all he did was smirk and run his thumb over his bottom lip.

"We have to go get Glenn."

Marcine looked over at Rick and T-Dog. "Well, let's just get it over with, I want to get back to camp."

Rick and T-Dog shared a glance and Rick nodded. "Then let's do this," he unzipped the bag of weapons, passing out weapons. He gave T-Dog a scoped rifle, Marcine just took a few extra rounds of ammo and Daryl kept to the technical hostage. "Think you can do this," he asked Marcine.

She glared. "Let's do this," she reminded him.

_I didn't mean for this to be so short, but I had to finish a chapter for TehKinkehWalrus' story, This Is As Quiet As It Gets. It's a joint story on here, check it out!_


	14. New Hope

_So the girl in the cover photo is Marcine, just not with such dark hair. It was a darker red until my phone got a hold of it and I don't really know what happened. But her hair is a rather dark red, almost too dark to be red, so I guess it works :/_

* * *

One shot, down.

One shot, down.

One shot, down.

He could hear the whistle of the arrow, could feel the muscles in his shoulder coil in conditioned recoil of the crossbow. He dug the butt of his crossbow into the ground and loaded another fletch into the slot, looking over at Marcine as she grabbed onto Sophia's shirt collar, pulling the child to her and firing a shot into the forehead of a Walker coming towards them. It slumped at her feet and she kicked it aside, firing into the skull of another Walker and pushing the child into the arms of her mother that was hysterical. Marcine looked around for him, finding him a ways behind her with a sigh of relief. She jogged over to him and pressed herself against his side as he fired another arrow.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left," she said.

He reloaded, waiting for a chance at another Walker. "Wouldn make a difference."

She shook her head. "I could have probably saved Amy."

Daryl found the blonde teenager, that bitch of a sister trying to get to her but being held back. He shook his head and pulled out his pistol. "No."

She looked up at him then sighed, jogging off towards Lori and Carl, making sure they were ok. Daryl unloaded a bullet into one Walkers skull, finding it to be the last one. He heard a moan and looked over as Andrea fell into the dirt beside her sister, cradling her bitten neck and begging her name into the dark air. Daryl walked over to the closest Walker and pressed his boot against its forehead, jerking out the arrow and moving to the next. Marcine was pulling the one farthest from him out and when Daryl looked up he noticed a pair of eyes on her rear end flailing in the air. T-Dog caught his eyes and looked away immediately while Daryl growled and stomped over to Marcine, grabbing her by her elbow and forcing her upright. She blinked in a daze, confused obviously by his sudden attack and then followed his narrowed eyes over at T-Dog, who was making it a point to look at anything but them. A look of distaste and distrust settled over her pretty face and she pressed herself more against Daryl.

"I want to go to the tent," she muttered, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

He nodded and let her walk ahead of him, following behind her closely. She was his, what didn't they get about that? No other man was allowed to look at her that way, especially in front of him. That was a death wish, but they had all just suffered together so he wouldn't do anything. Yet. He ducked into the tent behind her, placing his crossbow against the shitty table he had made in the corner before he fell down onto his bedroll, rolling his back to her. He heard her moving around and rolled his head back a little, opening one eye as she moved her jeans over the swells of her hips. He raised a brow to it but did nothing, just watched her bare ass flaunted in front of him. Did she think he wouldn't see? Or did she care anymore? It seemed like she knew who she belonged to so she had to know he would see…

"We're leaving…" she muttered, dropping her shirt on the tent floor.

He grumbled and watched the silhouette of her right breast against the side of the tent. "Why ya say that?"

She turned to him, one arm covering her breasts and she crouched down, tugging on his arm for him to sit up. "Because," she started, using her free hand to work on the buttons of his shirt. "Rick wants to get to the CDC, see if there are people there working on a cure."

Daryl grunted and let her tug his shirt off of him. "There ain't no God damn cure."

She shrugged and stood, pulling on his shirt with her back to him. She finished the top button and slid down to the spot at his side, pressing herself against his side. "Rick has hope."

"Hope is a dangerous thing."

Marcine bit her lip and nodded, closing her eyes. "You stink."

He rolled his eyes then sighed, staring at her circles surrounding her eyes. She looked sickly, like she had a terminal disease. "You sick?"

She opened her dark eyes and stared up at him for a moment. "No, no why?"

He shook his head and closed his own eyes, reaching up to place a hand against the side of her head. "You wanna follow em?"

"Why do you care about my opinion?"

"Tryin ta be nice."

He heard her sigh. "I don't know…yea I guess. Just to see if there is possibly a cure to this…whatever it is."

There was no cure, there would never be a cure to this thing. It was a plague, it would weed itself out or grow. Daryl knew it would only grow from where it was. There weren't many people left already and it had only been a couple of months. He and Merle had seen whole camps wiped out, dozens, since this thing started. They had been at the helm of it all, helping kill who needed to be killed, and kill those who didn't need to be killed. The only thing Daryl had not participated in was the rapes. That was all Merle's genius plan. He wanted poon and he got it, viciously. Daryl had already seen plenty of women get raped before Merle started it, starting with his mother. He and Merle weren't the only ones in the house that got physical abuse. He had walked in a many of times when his mother was saying no, was begging for his father to stop, and her cries went unheard. He loved his mother, more than he would ever let on. She was a real mother when they weren't dirt poor, when Merle was fourteen and Daryl was six. He remembered saying goodbye to his mom on the front porch on his way to kindergarten, remembered her telling him she loved him every morning no matter how big of a brat he was. And then his dad got his claws into her and she gave up on life.

A cold hand laid across his chest and his eyes snapped open, hearing Marcine's deep, even breathes against his ear. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, wishing she hadn't taken his shirt. She couldn't see the scars, she just couldn't. He may not be Prince Fucking Charming, he may have hit her and yelled at her, been rough and teased her, but he honestly wanted to keep that from her. He wanted to keep it from everyone.

"Daryl?"

He jumped. He thought she was asleep. "Wha'?"

She breathed in deeply. "Jus wanted to make sure it was you."

"Who else would it be?"

She shivered a little. "It just…it didn't feel like you for a minute."

"What do ya mean?"

She sighed, running her hand across his chest and stomach for a moment. "You just…you felt so smooth for a moment…I thought you were a million different people. But it's you now and I'm tired."

He looked at her hair through the dim light of the lamp in the tent and rolled his head to the side. "Sure."

**0000**

Marcine grunted, hefting the Walker body over her shoulder, and abruptly dropped it into the grave at her feet. She arched her back in discomfort and swayed side to side, grabbing the shovel and digging the end into the ground. They had been filling graves all morning. Marcine watched Daryl's shoulders and biceps flex as he poured dirt into one of the graves, admiring the view until a smiling face blocked it. Glenn held up the bottle of water and Marcine smiled a little, tossing the cap somewhere to her left.

"Thanks, Glenn."

He smiled wider. "No problem, its just so hot out here I thought you would like some water, even luke warm water."

She chuckled and took a sip, waving Daryl over as he patted down the dirt atop a new grave. "Oh yeah this is fantastic," she passed the bottle to Daryl. "This it?" she gestured to the grave she was preparing to fill.

Daryl nodded and wiped his brow, staring at Glenn with disapproving blue eyes. "What chu want?"

Glenn raised a scrawny brow at Daryl. "Uh…just bringing Marcine, and apparently you, some water. It's hot."

Daryl nodded and splashed Marcine with some water as she started to stare off into space. She blinked and glared at him, scooping up a mound of dirt to dump over the Walker body at the bottom of the pit. "Fuck off Daryl Dixon,"" she muttered, shoveling another mound of dirt onto the Walkers serene face.

"With pleasure."

She glared over her shoulder at him then smiled at Glenn. "Can you go fetch Rick for me please dear?"

He stuttered and then nodded, turning around and walking off towards camp. Marcine smiled over at Daryl, seeing his eyes on the city, then her eyes followed. She knew what he was thinking about, Merle. She was thinking about him too, wandering if he was alive, well. He had cut off his own hand. That was a stupid thing to do in the first place. He knew Daryl and Marcine would come for him the moment they got back to camp. Or did he?

"Fucking idiot," Daryl muttered.

Marcine nodded and looked over at him, eyes flitting across his face, and she smiled. "I think theres some form of hope at the CDC."

He snorted. "Still on about that?"

"Daryl, it might mean our survival. Yes, I am still on about it."

He looked down at her, brow scrunched in confusion. "Why are ya followin me around?"

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Why ya stick wit me? Just been cruel and spiteful towards ya since you walked yer ass over to our side of camp."

She chewed on her lip a little and smiled, reaching up to throw her arms around his neck, purring against his chest. "Daryl even after what you have done to me, which hasn't been much mind you, you are safe. Just doing everything you have proves to me that you are the safest person in the group, probably anywhere right now. I haven't had safety since I was a kid and I like this. I like being safe."

He stared at her, long enough to make her uncomfortable under his gaze. They looked over when they heard someone clear their throats. Rick stood to their right, staring down at the ground with his brow scrunched in confusion. Marcine let her arms drop down and Rick looked up again, looking rather tense and…scared.

"Glenn said you needed me."

Marcine nodded and pushed on Daryl's arm, a silent way to tell him to leave them alone. He nodded and glared at Rick, stomping past him and back towards camp. "I wanted to talk to you about the CDC."

Rick sighed and sort of rolled his eyes. "I've been getting enough grief about this from Shane alright? I don't need it from anyone else."

Marcine waved a hand at him. "Shut up Rick and let me talk. I wanted to know why you want to go there exactly. Do you think it's safe?"

He stared at her for a moment then scratched at the back of his head. "Well…yes. I mean, if there's a possibility for a cure they would be working on it there right? And that means the government, what's left of it anyway, will want to keep it as safe as possible. I think they have a military installation there, and possibly a cure, if not they are close."

Marcine swallowed thickly. "So you really have hope?"

He nodded. "Yeah…yeah I do."

Hope.

Daryl was right, it was a dangerous thing, but it was something they all needed right now. Marcine smiled widely and took a step forward, holding out a hand to Rick, holding her other hand behind her back. He stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, obviously confused by her sudden display of 'affection' towards him. He gave the smallest of smiles and took her long hand in his, giving it a firm shake and when they let each other's hands go Marcine placed both hands behind her back and smiled at him warmly.

He may have gotten Merle lost to them, he may have fucked everything up for her and Daryl, but Marcine wanted to like Rick. She hadn't known Merle for long, but she already knew what he was like and no doubt he was causing more harm than good. Rick had said he was shooting off of the building, drawing the attention of all of the Walkers in the area. That had sounded like Merle, too high to care about safety. There was no other choice. No other God damn choice. And she certaintly liked Rick more so than Shane. Shane seemed…something seemed off about Shane and it just didn't settle so well with Marcine. Rick was a true born leader, Shane was a novice. Of course, Marcine thought Daryl was a better leader than any of them. He was tough and bright, intimidating and everything that a leader should be. Then again, Marcine knew Rick could probably be that way too if he had enough experience.

"When do we leave then?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Not sure, everyone needs a little rest after last night…" Rick shook his head. "Leaving was a bad idea."

Marcine would be offended if she wasn't already at terms with Merle's absence. "Yeah, it kind of was. But…Daryl and I would have left if we wouldn't have just went for closure."

Rick looked Marcine up and down. "Why do you stay by his side?"

Marcine laughed. "He just asked me the same question."

"And?"

She shrugged. She didn't want to give him the same answer she gave Daryl. He would never understand. "I love Daryl. It's as simple as that. Haven't you ever done something you regret when you were angry Rick?" she asked, referring to when Daryl had slapped her.

He smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah I guess so. One time when I was twelve I got angry at my mother and went to where I knew she had the Christmas presents stashed and I looked at all of them. When she found out I had seen them all she didn't get angry, she started crying and I felt horrible."

Marcine nodded, even though this was a total lie. "Daryl already apologized to me. He was just angry, that was the first time he had done something like that to me."

Damn she was a liar. And Rick was buying it. He sighed and nodded. "Ok, I just don't…I don't want you to wind up like an abused housewife ok?"

Marcine laughed again. "Don't worry Rick, I'm fine. I also wanted to know if you needed us to do anything today, like go on a supply run or anything."

Ricks eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact I need a few people to check out this gas station up the road a ways. Glenn says it's far out and no one's had the chance to go check it out."

Marcine nodded and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Yeah I think we could do that, I'll go tell Daryl right now and we'll head right out."

Rick placed a hand on her shoulder, oblivious to the way her shoulder tensed up. "Thank you, Marcine."

She smiled a little and breathed a sigh of relief when he removed his hand. "Rick it's no problem, really."

And it wasn't a problem. She didn't like Rick, but she didn't hate him. She thought he was stupid kind of…but no, he was a leader. This may have been a dangerous move, a risky move, going to the CDC, but Rick was right in every way what the outcomes could be. Marcine was for it, she wanted it to be ok. She wanted everything to be ok. She wanted this to all be over with.

She grabbed onto Daryl as she reached their tent, pressing her lips against his tan, dusty shoulder. He raised a brow at her, his hands coated in squirrel blood. "What?"

She tugged on his arms a little. "Come on, we're going on a run."

"Where," he let her drag him towards his truck, crossbow on his shoulder.

"Rick said theres a store no one's been to yet. Let's go," she opened the driver's door and pushed him towards it.

She skipped around to the other side, pistol in her back pocket, and jumped in as he started the truck. She watched the eyes trailing after them as they backed up and started down the road, her fingers lacing with Daryl's on the stick shift. He didn't squeeze her hand like he had back at the subdivision, just continued down the road as though she wasn't touching him at all.

"Why did ya volunteer us fer this?"

Marcine looked over at Daryl. "Because I wanted to get away from the camp," she looked out the window at the trees that blurred past them. "It's so damn depressing there."

"Every where's depressing."

Marcine shrugged. "I guess I just want to live in denial a little bit longer."

They sat in silence the rest of the drive, Marcine over thinking everything in her head while Daryl tapped a tune against the steering wheel. She looked over at him occasionally, saw his brow creased in confusion and something else, but Marcine didn't really care. She pulled her hand away from his and placed it with her other one in her lap, absentmindedly playing with her long nails.

"I wonder if mom is alive," she mused, looking out the window again.

"Didn' ya say she was crazy?"

Marcine nodded. "She was normal when I was a kid, looking back, after I turned twelve I think she started to slip. She started watching murder shows, something she had never done. I think one time my sister even said she was scared of her but never gave me a reason. After I turned sixteen she started giving up on trying to be normal, on trying to become a part of that high society clic."

Daryl snorted, turning onto a dusty paved road. "High society in Atlanta…"

Marcine chuckled. "Yeah, believe or not there were a group of snotty people. Inner city people ya know? She started calling them stupid and tried to get me to go on these trips with her to Florida but I always said no and stayed behind with Sherri to make sure she stayed in school and everything."

"Sherri?"

"My sister, she didn't want to go with mom either…after a few months I started hearing about these murders down on Miami beach, but there was no evidence of the killer around. Mom would always come home around one in the morning after a weeks of being in Florida. After the murder rumors ad buzz wore off she started going up to New York on month long vacations, leaving me and Sherri here in Atlanta. I didn't figure out what she was doing until after the apocalypse. Can you believe that? I didn't know until I came home, tried to find her and Sherri, and I went into her bathroom. I never went in there because she forbid it, even when I turned twenty. I never went in her room after awhile, just let her wake up on her own for work…" Marcine swallowed thickly and looked down. "There were….pictures, everywhere. Taped all over the mirrors and walls, the doors and the cabinets. They were her…victims."

Marcine shook her head, smiling a little, thinking of how big of an idiot she was. How she had not known what was going on in her mother's house was a mystery to her. She should have noticed something, in the change in her mother after the murders started in Florida.

"There was God damn baby in the Jacuzzi tub…it was I guess a still born. It was hard and blue, but very much a real baby. She had Jayden written in black marker across the edge of the tub. I don't know whose baby it was but…it was horrible. I prayed I would never be like her, I prayed but it seems like I'm becoming more like her every day."

"Cus ya won't let me go."

Marcine looked over at Daryl, feeling the truck give a jerk as they stopped in front of the gas station. "No Daryl."

He nodded and kicked open his door. "Yeah, all because you wouldn't go on like we told ya ta do the moment ya came into camp. Now you're like us…like your mother."

Marcine swallowed and looked down. She could sit there and deny him, he was right though, but she didn't want to blame him. Sure she was his partner now, but she did honestly want to be with Daryl. It's not like they could be arrested now.

Marcine shook her head. "It doesn't matter Daryl," she reached over and placed her hand on his knee, giving it a squeeze. "I want to be with you Daryl, I don't care anymore. I haven't killed anyone yet, maybe we can change."

Daryl shook his head and stepped out of the truck. "No, I can't change, and you helped Merle with that woman…neither of us can change."

Marcine nodded and stepped out of the truck as well, looking up at the gas station. "What do you think we need?"

They started walking towards the gas station, Daryl looking around while Marcine stalked ahead, fingers curled around the pistol in her back pocket. "Food, gas is gone. Get anything else ya want really."

Marcine nodded but he was already gone, so she walked inside, weapon out, and kept her eyes up above the shelves. She could handle a Walker with her own hands, she didn't need a gun for them, but if there was a human in here…she had a fifty/fifty chance she would be ok. She grabbed an old basket from by the door and started tossing what food items she could find, chuckled as she stuffed sweets into the basket. She didn't want to share any of those with anyone in the group. She placed the now full basket by the door and grabbed another, going back for miscellaneous items they needed that no one had managed to get. Batteries, flashlights, bathing essentials she wanted to hang on to for as long as possible. She stared at a few small, thin boxes and bit her lips, looking around before she slipped a few into the bottom of the basket. _Just in case,_ she muttered in her head and went to the feminine aisle.

"You got everything?"

She looked up and over to Daryl, who was looking at the door, then sighed. "Yeah I guess so. Still, you should make a sweep just in case while I get this stuff out to the truck."

Daryl nodded and slung himself, quite literally, into the store and started going through the aisles slowly and skeptically. He picked up a few stray items she didn't see, but Marcine didn't bother with that and poured everything into bags, jogging out to the truck. She opened her door and stuffed everything into the she free space in front of her seat, looking up when se heard something behind her. Just a Walker. She grabbed the knife in the door compartment and jogged forward, driving the grated knife into the Walkers forehead. It gurgled and slumped to the ground as she jerked the knife out, landing on one of her boots. She jerked herself back and wiped the knife off on her jeans, walking back to the truck. Daryl tossed a small bag in the back of the truck and jerked his chin at her. She nodded, sliding into the passenger seat while he started the truck, pulling away from the gas station.

"Anywhere else we could go that you could think of?" Marcine asked.

He swallowed thickly and leaned over, reaching is hand to hook into her thigh. It sent a chill through her thighs and up her stomach, making it clench and unclench as she looked over at him, eyes glazed but fearful. She didn't want to…but she did. She wanted him, she wanted everything on him but she didn't…want to do this now. She shook her head and pushed his hand off of her.

"No Daryl."

He hit the brakes, stopping in the middle of the thin street and he looked over at her. "What th' fuck is yer problem?"

Marcine shook her head. "I just don't want to Daryl…not now."

"Well I'm running out of patience."

"I can leave Daryl."

Silence.

She could, she could just run of right now but if he didn't try to push this anymore she would stay.

He growled. "Why the fuck not huh?! God dammit Marcine I may not be like Merle but it doesn't mean I have a lot of patience. I don' wanna sit here and let you treat me the way you do and just…_sit here,_" he ground out, slamming his hands down on the steering wheel.

Marcine expected a loud honk but all was silent save for his heavy breathing. "What do you mean Daryl?"

He glared over at her. "You know exactly what I mean."

She did. She knew exactly what he was talking about. The teasing, every little thing, and she did feel bad for it. But not here, in the middle of the road, halfway back to camp in broad daylight. She wanted closed in and dark, silent. But the camp at night is too silent and Marcine wasn't shy but she wasn't that bold. She didn't want to share her sex life with the world.

She swallowed hard. "I swear I will Daryl just please…I'll do anything you want me to do just not right now."

He watched her for a moment then sighed, reaching over to place his hand over hers and he started the truck. When they got out at camp everyone was huddled around one fire or stashed away in their tents. Marcine saw no one down at the quarry and Dale was on top of his R.V. reading some thick to thin novel. Marcine stepped out of the truck and leaned against the door, cradling her face in her hands as she stated to silently cry. She should have took up the Vatos' offer and stuck with them. She could have had a nice-ish life with them. They were all decent but tough. But…she didn't want to stay with them. It was like saying she should have never went over to the Dixon side of camp. She would have stayed ignorant to what was going on, and then died. Alone. With no one holding her at night, no one kissing her and protecting her and touching her the way she wanted to be touched. She would presume role of the proper camp woman, doing the laundry, tending to the children, cooking the food the men brought in. No…no she couldn't live with that.

"Marcine?"

The young woman looked up at Dale, who was setting his book down and looking over the R.V. at her with concern. _Peace keeper._ The title rang in her head, rang true. She smiled and wiped at a tear, slapping her left hand against her sloped thigh and waving the right at him.

"I'm fine Dale, really."

He nodded, knowing it was a lie, but settled back into his chair. Marcine sighed and pushed off of the truck, reopening the door to grab the bags she had stuffed down there. Daryl was already handing off his bag of stuff to Rick, who was talking to him low and with a dark shadow over his brow. Leader. God he reeked of it. Marcine ducked her head and jogged over towards her and Daryl's tent, dropping the bags in the corner before she grabbed her small bag and left the tent, heading towards the quarry.

"Where are you going?"

She looked over at Daryl as he stalked up to her, holding onto his crossbow that was settled over his left shoulder. Marcine jerked her thumb in the direction of the quarry. "Bath. I'm disgusting."

Daryl snorted and grabbed onto her elbow, dragging her along with him. "Women and hygiene…"

"Don't wanna have sex dirty, don't need to get an inf-" she was cut off by him spinning her around to his chest, face pressed against the dirty fabric of his shirt while he stared down at her with cobalt blue eyes.

"Ain't lookin ta fuck ya tonight girl."

She swallowed thickly. "W-Well still…let me go please, Daryl."

He did, staying by her side as she set her back on one of the rocks away from the water. "And what exactly is that?"

Marcine smirked over her shoulder as she held up the string bikini top. The color was a vibrant green. "I didn't exactly discriminate against clothes when I was looking for them. I think I got this mixed up with my bra…" she set it down and pulled her shirt over her head, keeping her eyes up in case there was some creeper wandering around.

Daryl was watching to, so that made her feel all the more safer. "How do ya get that shit mixed up?"

"You'd be surprised what you zoom through when theres Walker's busting down your door," she tied the straps, looking over her shoulder at Daryl. "Where were you when the epidemic hit?"

Daryl watched her as she pulled two small bottles out of her back and then the bottoms to the bikini. "Merle and I had been tryin ta off this guy we found with his wife out in the woods…persistent fucker. He fought us back at every chance and hell if he didn' dislocate my damn shoulder once or twice when we tried ta get 'im back into the truck. Finally got him down, finally cracked his skull open, and the sky lit up like a God damn bonfire was lit. We crawl up this hill, towards the road, and see them droppin Napalm in the city," he spit something out of the corner of his mouth, eyes trailing over her as she tied the sides to her bikini together. "We strapped Merle's bike to the bed of my truck and drove up to the quarry. Had camped out there a few times, caught a few youngens fuckin in their cars, killed them and rolled em off into the woods…that group back there showed up a day or two after we had gotten set up. They looked like shit."

Marcine snorted and slipped into the water, sighing as she lolled onto her back. "I was at work, nurse at the local hospital. All these army guys swarmed in and I took off, seeing all the bodies piled up and wrapped in sheets out back where my car was parked. I took off towards moms and it was empty until…" Marcine shook away the thoughts of that bathroom. "I grabbed what I could and left, didn't even stop by my own house, just zoomed by and waited out in a department store for a minute until I noticed the looters beginning to scavenge. Then I got the fuck out of there and ended up wandering around in the woods for awhile."

"Who's Minx?"

Marcine would have froze if she could but the waters was slowly spinning her in a circle. "The bag…right…" she sighed and closed her eyes. "I really didn't want to talk about this with anyone…"


End file.
